I Still Don’t Understand Why Our LP&L Electric Bills Are So High

I've been asking this question for years, and I still don't have an adequate answer. I've even looked at websites showing what the average electric bill is in Texas and other states. So why are our LP&L bills so high?

I'm one of the lucky ones. I live alone, mostly, except when my kids are with me. So I know exactly how much juice I use regularly. I also travel frequently and turn my a/c down when I'm gone. But still, my monthly electric bill is lower than most. But for July, it jumped up almost 50 percent from my June bill. Fifty percent is a huge jump for a utility bill for a residence!

So I posted about it on Facebook, and many of my friends who live in other cities, states or even in Lubbock but use a different electric company, all agreed that their bills were reasonable and they've never had a problem with them.

So I got curious and started Googling how much electric bills are in other parts of the country. Obviously, I got many different results. But if you look at the averages across America and even right here in Texas, an electric bill shouldn't be over $200 for a residence without some extreme circumstances.

The website Electric Choice shows the averages from January to June for 2016 at around $100/month in Texas.

This graphic is from 2013, which is only four years ago. So feel free to add a few bucks for inflation and changing energy costs. But notice how even though Texas is one of the highest electricity rates in America, that "high" monthly rate only says over $125.

And here's a paragraph about national rates from the same website:

The average monthly electric bill varies widely by state. In the contiguous United States, the West South Central states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) had the highest average monthly electric bill at $126.75, while the Pacific states (California, Oregon, and Washington) had the lowest at $90.84. The state with the highest average monthly electric bill was Hawaii at $190.36 or nearly 2.5 times the average electric bill in New Mexico. New Mexico was the state with the lowest average electric bill in 2013 at $76.56.

And if you look at this chart at the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration website, you'll notice that the "average monthly bill" for Texas in 2015 was $136.

So, my question remains: Why are some people seeing bills for $500, $600, $700 like I had when I lived in a house? The average prices for electricity are nowhere near what I've seen some people's bills at. And I know that everybody uses electricity differently, but you cannot tell me that everybody on LP&L uses that much more electricity than people in other parts of the south plains. Or Texas. Or America.

So, what's happening?