CPS Energy customers won’t see extra charges on February bills stemming from storm.

CPS Energy customers won’t see extra charges on their February bills stemming from the winter storm that iced over Texas last month. But utility officials warn that customers eventually may have to pay at least part of the tab.

The city-owned utility spent around $1 billion to buy wholesale power and natural gas during the storm.

CPS owes about $800 million to natural gas suppliers who utility officials say charged excessively high prices for gas amid the statewide emergency.

“The market is naturally going to fluctuate. Should it fluctuate (16,000 percent) from what it was the day before?” said Rudy Garza, CPS’ chief customer engagement officer. “We don’t think so.”

While the utility contests suppliers’ charges, it won’t pass the costs onto customers.

“There will be some costs associated with this event at some point in time,” Garza said. “We don’t want to pay any more than we think is justified.”

CPS will provide a credit for customers based on the amount of time their power was out. Garza said CPS will provide more details on the credit in the coming weeks.

“We’re going to try to frame our program by the experience,” he said. “So the less time you were out, the less the benefit. And the more time you were out, the more the benefit.”

CEO Paula Gold-williams has said the utility will seek relief from the state or federal government to alleviate the cost, in addition to contesting charges for natural gas that the utility deems excessive.

Garza said CPS is unlikely to resume disconnecting customers who haven’t paid their bills until late this year or beyond. A year ago, the utility stopped cutting off power because of nonpayment.

“I don’t anticipate us getting back to disconnects anytime soon,” he said. “We will have a conversation at some point this year about when the timing is right, but we know it’s not now.”

But suspending disconnections “has had significant financial impact on our balance sheet,” Garza said.

Earlier this week, CPS officials said the amount of past-due bills owed to the utility had reached $93 million as of January, compared with $38 million owed a year earlier.