Originally Posted by
Coffeemadman
Um... absolutely a power company should be refunding any payments for energy made when the power goes out. I'm kind of surprised that even the US doesn't have basic rights like this.
In fact power companies are legally required to protect the most vulnerable (at least in the UK) and in extreme cases that can be paying for hotels. Granted, most of this will be done by the local authority but it can be done by an energy company too.
Heck, when my apartment building lost power for 2 months the building owners funded £200 per night hotel costs, £50 per person per day food costs, 2x daily taxis to and from the building to pick up items, and weekly laundry costs despite the issue not being their fault - it's what they pay insurance for and it covers this.
This may well be a US vs European sort of thing however, given the responses from US posters.
It’s worth qualifying this : although many non-US power companies are indeed required to pay compensation for power outages, this provision normally carries a qualification in the case of severe weather events. Eg in the UK, for a Category 1 storm, the compensation only kicks in after 24 hours; for a Category 2 storm it’s 48 hours.
In the OPs case, whether any compensation is due is likely to depend on the severity of the tornado / storm in Houston.