The New York Times
His Lights Stayed on During Texas’ Storm. Now He Owes $16,752.
SAN ANTONIO β As millions of Texans shivered in dark, cold homes over the past week while a winter storm devastated the stateβs power grid and froze natural gas production, those who could still summon lights with the flick of a switch felt lucky. Now, many of them are paying a severe price for it. βMy savings is gone,β said Scott Willoughby, a 63-year-old Army veteran who lives on Social Security payments in a Dallas suburb. He said he had nearly emptied his savings account so that he would be able to pay the $16,752 electric bill charged to his credit card β 70 times what he usually pays for all of his utilities combined. βThereβs nothing I can do about it, but itβs broken me.β Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Willoughby is among scores of Texans who have…
