El Paso Council Blocks Gas Rate Hike, Fights for Fairness

0:00El Paso City Council just shut down Texas Gas Services latest push for higher rates under the state's gas reliability infrastructure program. This happened during their work session on Monday March 30th. They also voted to hit pause on those new rates for another 45 days while they reviewed the whole plan. This move comes separate from an earlier rate hike, the company got approved by the Texas Railroad Commission. That one would jack up bills by 10 percent for small residential users and up to 19 percent for bigger ones. The city is still appealing that decision right now. Residents are feeling the squeeze already, with gas bills doubling or even quadrupling in spots across El Paso. On top of that, electricity and water rates have climbed too. Texas sits among the states with the highest utility costs overall. Texas Gas Service Rips haven't commented yet on the council's denial. Meanwhile, the city's digging into this grip proposal during the suspension period, keeping the pressure on.

1:00Mayor Renard Johnson says they're locked in on shielding local rate payers, fighting these hikes every step and pushing for fairness even when the final calls land outside city limits. We'll keep watching how this plays out for El Paso wallets. Local news, powered by AI. This is El Paso News Today.