Article by Andrew Moore, published in

Court documents Griddy Energy filed Monday would forgive bills customers racked up during last month’s winter storm as the company went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Of course, that process would need to be completed first, and it will take months.

It’s welcome news to customers like Elizabeth Dietz, who had been trying to get an update on her situation after getting a $6,000 bill for February.

“We really haven’t heard much from Griddy,” Dietz said. “I hope that it’s forgiven and me and anyone else with such high bills don’t have to pay anything.”

Griddy currently has an outstanding balance of $29 million, according to court documents. Many Texans received bills for thousands of dollars in just four days after prices spiked during the winter storm in February. The company’s activities have been under scrutiny every since.

Dietz said she switched to TXU as soon as possible, but was still with Griddy a few days after prices normalized. Her daily bill went from more than $1,400 a day to just $1 a day before she left.

“Once everything calmed down it was just a dollar for that one day,” Dietz said. ”

In a statement on Griddy’s website, Chief Executive Officer Michael Fallquist said the bankruptcy plan for Griddy would give customers relief.

“Our bankruptcy plan, if confirmed, provides relief for our former customers who were unable to pay their electricity bills resulting from the unprecedented prices,” Fallquist said.

At the same time, the plan explained by court documents is a bit more nuanced, and customers would have to drop claims against Griddy to be released from payment themselves. The lawsuit states:

“Customer Releases” means the mutual releases by and among the Participating Customers, on the one hand, and the Released Parties, on the other hand, whereby (i) the Debtor and each other Released Party releases and waives all Claims against each Participating Customer, solely in its capacity as such, including, for unpaid amounts owed by such Participating Customer to the Debtor for the electricity and related fees, taxes, expenses and other costs charged to such customers for the period February 15, 2021 through and including February 19, 2021 when the Public Utilities Commission of Texas imposed the $9,000 per MWh price for wholesale power; and (ii) each Participating Customer releases and waives all Claims against each of the Released Parties relating to the pre-Effective Date Debtor, the Liquidating Debtor, the Plan Administrator, the Chapter 11 Case, the Plan or the Disclosure Statement, including, any claims for any loss a Participating Customer may suffer, have suffered or be alleged to suffer as a result of or relating to the Participating Customer’s agreements with the Debtor as well as the electricity and related fees, taxes and costs charged to such customers for any period while they were a customer of the Debtor, including, the period February 15, 2021 through and including February 19, 2021 when the Public Utilities Commission of Texas imposed the $9,000 per MWh price for wholesale power.”

Before any of this actually happens, the bankruptcy court needs to review the plan and creditors will need to vote on the plan. A preliminary calendar timeline in court documents show the process could go well into June, though the dates are subject to change.

Still, Texans can feel more comfortable knowing that the the bills would be forgiven, eventually.

Original article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/griddy-bankruptcy-plan-will-forgive-millions-in-bills-but-process-will-take-months/ar-BB1eOZi3?pfr=1