{"id":3162,"date":"2021-07-28T23:49:22","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T04:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robertjsmithtx.com\/?p=3162"},"modified":"2021-07-29T11:41:21","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T16:41:21","slug":"gpl-faq-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertjsmithtx.com\/index.php\/2021\/07\/28\/gpl-faq-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"GP&L FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disclaimer: This is my personal understanding of how everything works. This is not an official publication of either GP&L or the City of Garland, and does not represent the opinion of the Garland City Council.<\/p>\n

Here are my answers to the questions and criticisms I receive the most often:<\/p>\n

How does GP&L work?<\/h2>\n

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\n-click to enlarge-<\/i>
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 <\/p>\n

My bill is high. Why?<\/h2>\n

Remember that we send out a combined bill with ALL of your utilities on it. It includes Water, Sewer, Stormwater Management, Environmental Waste Services, and Electric. If you’re comparing your power bill now to one with a previous provider, make sure you are comparing just the electric portion. Our cost hovers around $0.10\/kwh and has for years.<\/p>\n

Here’s how we compare to everyone else in the Oncor service area:<\/p>\n

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\n-click to enlarge-<\/i>
\n
 <\/p>\n

The summer A\/C usage is killing me financially. How do you deal with that?<\/h2>\n

Below is my household’s bill for June 2021 (with the account information removed). I write a check for the same amount all year long to help with summer costs. I get ahead in the fall and winter, and that extra balance gets eaten up in the summer. It helps level out the cost of the Texas summer heat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n
 <\/p>\n

You guys really dropped the ball during the 2021 Winter Storm<\/h2>\n

We had a few places where we could have improved. Here’s my blog post on the issue:
\nhttps:\/\/robertjsmithtx.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/18\/winter-storm-aftermath\/<\/a>
\nIt isn’t a quick process, but work is very much in progress on fixing each of the things I listed in that article.
\n
 <\/p>\n

You guys had to have raised your rates to pay for Snowvid (the 2021 Winter Storm), right?<\/h2>\n

Nope. We have a savings account called the ‘rate mitigation fund’ that we pulled from to cover the loss. If we have a good year by selling power at a premium to non-Garland customers, we bank the windfall into that account and use it to keep Garland’s rates down.
\n
 <\/p>\n

2021 Winter Storm: Why couldn’t we just use our own power that we generate?<\/h2>\n

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\n-click to enlarge-<\/i>
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 <\/p>\n

You suck! GP&L sucks!<\/h2>\n

I have teenage daughters that beat you to that observation a long time ago. <\/p>\n

GP&L however, is pretty good by comparison. It’s nice that the money collected by GP&L literally goes back into the rate-payers pockets instead of an out of state or international owner’s. We experience quite a bit less down time than other providers, and you get to elect the board of directors directly (city council) every two years.<\/p>\n

If you have additional questions, or have come up with new and creative things that I “haven’t” been called before, please feel free to reach out to me at council8@garlandtx.gov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disclaimer: This is my personal understanding of how everything works. This is not an official publication of either GP&L or the City of Garland, and does not represent the opinion of the Garland City Council. Here are my answers to Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-council","category-policy"],"yoast_head":"\nGP&L FAQ - Robert John Smith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GP&L FAQ 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/robertjsmithtx.com\/index.php\/2021\/07\/28\/gpl-faq-2021\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GP&L FAQ - Robert John Smith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GP&L FAQ 2021\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/robertjsmithtx.com\/index.php\/2021\/07\/28\/gpl-faq-2021\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Robert John Smith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/robertjsmith24\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robertjsmith24\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-29T04:49:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-29T16:41:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/robertjsmithtx.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2021-07-20-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"304\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rjsmith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@robertjsmithtx\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@robertjsmithtx\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rjsmith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/robertjsmithtx.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/28\\\/gpl-faq-2021\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/robertjsmithtx.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/28\\\/gpl-faq-2021\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"rjsmith\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/robertjsmithtx.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fe9997b2d7aa4355c272c5a35f2e44b7\"},\"headline\":\"GP&L FAQ\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-29T04:49:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-29T16:41:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/robertjsmithtx.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/28\\\/gpl-faq-2021\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":475,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/robertjsmithtx.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/28\\\/gpl-faq-2021\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/robertjsmithtx.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/2021-07-20-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Council\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/robertjsmithtx.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/28\\\/gpl-faq-2021\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/robertjsmithtx.com\\\/index.php\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/28\\\/gpl-faq-2021\\\/\",\"name\":\"GP&L FAQ - 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