Mar 5, 2021
Some of those huge Texas electricity bills were a mistake?
The state needs to be prepared to prevent extreme cold from paralyzing the electric power system.
Matthew Busch/AFP via Getty Images
An independent monitor says there are billions of dollars in overcharges on Texas electricity bills as a result of the deadly outages in February. Plus, signs of energy in hiring for the U.S. economy. And, concerns about inflation and higher borrowing costs for mortgages and loans, and how those will really affect consumer spending.
Segments From this episode
379,000 more people were on the payrolls in February, indicating a stronger-than-expected job market
"It's not just that we almost added 400,000 jobs. It's that we managed to add that many jobs despite the great freeze," said Christopher Low, chief economist at FHN Financial, "which caused construction employment to fall, manufacturing employment gains were probably smaller than they would have been. In fact, even state and local government employment was down because teachers couldn't come in to work in parts of the South." Good jobs numbers can fuel inflation and bond market concerns, as Treasury yields have continued to rise. But also fueling concerns, Low said, is the fact that Fed Chair Jerome Powell did not say the central bank would stop yields from rising, just that it would monitor and take action on "disorderly" market conditions.
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Watchdog says $16 billion worth of electricity bills from Texas power outages may be overcharges
Marketplace's Nova Safo has more.
Music from the episode
Open House/Two To The Bar/Porter For Three Kevin Burke
The team
David Brancaccio
Host
Victoria Craig
Host, BBC
Stephen Ryan
Senior Producer, BBC
Jonathan Frewin
Producer, BBC
Daniel Shin
Producer
Jay Siebold
Technical Director
Brian Allison
Engineer
Meredith Garretson
Senior Producer
Erika Soderstrom
Producer
Rose Conlon
Producer
Alex Schroeder
Producer
