AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Griddy, LLC for “violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act through false, misleading, and deceptive advertising and marketing practices,” according to a news release sent by Paxton’s office.
During the February winter freeze, multiple Texas power companies left millions of Texans without power and heat during record-low temperatures across the state.
“Griddy passed skyrocketing energy costs to customers with little to no warning, resulting in consumers paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars each day for electricity,” the news release said.
“Griddy misled Texans and signed them up for services which, in a time of crisis, resulted in individual Texans each losing thousands of dollars. As Texans struggled to survive this winter storm, Griddy made the suffering even worse as it debited outrageous amounts each day. As the first lawsuit filed by my office to confront the outrageous failure of power companies, I will hold Griddy accountable for their escalation of this winter storm disaster,” said Paxton. “My office will not allow Texans to be deceived or exploited by unlawful behavior and deceptive business practices.”
The lawsuit is seeking injunctive relief from Griddy to ensure that “the Texans it serves will receive truthful and accurate energy service in the future, and to have the court order refunds from available sources,” the news release said.
Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee released the following statement in regards to the lawsuit:
“I am glad to see today the Attorney General sued Griddy for its deceptive practices and its charging Texans, including Harris County residents, excessive electricity rates during Winter Storm Uri. This is but a first step to hold companies accountable for the suffering Texans experienced during and after the power grid failure. I am proud of my office’s efforts to protect Harris County residents from deceptive business practices—our county is leading the state on addressing the important issue of price gouging. Tomorrow, I am heading to Austin to testify before the Texas House’s Business and Industry Committee about changes they can make to the law to enable my office and other local governments to be more involved in the fight for consumer protection.”