HOUSTON, March 1 (Reuters) - A large Texas employer, Bell Textron Inc., urged the state to lower skyhigh electricity charges that were imposed during a recent storm, saying it faced a "huge burden" from the price hikes, according to a letter made public on Monday.
Bell Textron halted its Texas operations for "an unprecedented" four days because of the blackout, and sent most of its 6,000 employees home, Executive Vice President Robert Hastings said in the letter to state officials.
The state Public Utility Commission should reconsider the hike to $9,000 per megawatt hour prices charged during the storm and "at a minimum" remove those extra changes that remained after the emergency had passed. Emergency fees jacked up its costs by 300 times the normal amount, he said.
The financial fallout from the blackout pushed Texas electric power provider Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. to seek protection from creditors on Monday. Its Chapter 11 filing cited an $1.8 billion bill from the state's grid operator as its largest debt.
"The Commission should act promptly to remedy the harm that will otherwise be caused to Bell and other employers," Textron's Hastings wrote.
A spokesman for the state Public Utility Commission, which regulates electric power providers, did not reply to a request for comment.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said officials were working on proposals to add more power to the electric grid to prevent future outages. His spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
