CPS sues 14 more gas suppliers.

The utility accuses a total of 16 companies of price gouging during recent winter storm

CPS Energy has sued 14 more natural gas companies that the city-owned utility accuses of price gouging during last month's winter storm.

With the lawsuits filed Monday in Bexar County District Court, CPS has now targeted 16 natural gas suppliers in its effort to eliminate more than half of the roughly $670 million the utility owes for natural gas it bought in the week of Feb. 14.

“We filed the suits to protect our customers from unlawful, excessive and exorbitant prices charged by certain natural gas suppliers during a state and federally declared disaster,” CPS chief executive Paula Gold-williams said.

CPS wants the court to declare $362 million of its natural gas debt illegal, in violation of Texas' pricegouging laws.

On Friday, CPS sued Houston Pipe Line Co. and Oasis Pipeline, saying the firms — both subsidiaries of the publicly traded oil and gas company Energy Transfer — raised their prices by as much as 15,000 percent during the depths of the deep freeze. CPS is asking the court to slash its debt to Oasis and HPL by $250 million.

The lawsuits CPS filed Monday target major oil and gas firms that the utility says raised their prices dramatically over a two-week window in February.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Feb. 12 issued a statewide disaster declaration, an action in part intended to prevent price-gouging for essentials. Abbott made the order less than two days before the storm arrived in Texas.

Under Texas law, “taking advantage of a disaster declared by the governor” by “selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine, lodging, building materials, construction tools or another necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price” is un

lawful.

During the storm, natural gas became scarce as wellheads and pipelines froze and icy roads slowed deliveries of the fossil fuel. At the same time, utilities across the state competed for natural gas to fuel their power plants and heat homes.

CPS has said natural gas traded in early February at between $2.50 to $3.00 per unit of gas. But as the storm took hold in Texas, CPS said companies such as Chevron, British Petroleum and others raised their prices between 6,000 and 7,000 percent during the time of the freeze. Suppliers at times charged CPS over $400 per unit of gas, the utility said in its complaints.

“Imagine going to the gasoline pump during a natural disaster and seeing the price of a gallon of gas at about $348 or about $7,000 for a full tank,” Gold-williams said. “That is essentially what happened with natural gas prices during the storm.”

Neither Chevron nor BP immediately responded to a request for comment.

CPS says it’s willing to pay its suppliers $38.83 per unit of gas, which is still more 10 times the typical price of gas. CPS said it deems that price to be at “the outer reaches of any commercially justified price for natural gas.”

If every natural gas supplier CPS is suing lowered their price to $38.83 per unit, the utility would owe just $97 million to suppliers — instead of the nearly $460 million that the defendants charged.

Koch Energy Services and CIMA Energy raised their prices by more than 16,000 percent during the storm, CPS alleges.

CPS accused CIMA of boosting its prices from around $3 prior to the freeze to $184 by Feb. 13, just before the worst of Winter Storm Uri hit Texas. On Feb. 17, CIMA began charging CPS $400 per unit of gas. By Feb. 19, the gas supplier had lowered the price down to $56.

CIMA and Koch Energy Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

CPS is asking the court to declare the high prices illegal and to bar gas suppliers from claiming CPS has defaulted on its debts while it contests the charges.

“The lawsuits are designed to ensure that San Antonio residents get fair treatment instead of price gouging and gross overcharging by natural gas suppliers during last month’s weather emergency,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said.