David J. Phillip / AP In January, Dallas resident Shannon Marrs paid $257 for electricity. But after Texas suffered the worst winter storm in years, Marrs' February electric bill totaled more than $10,000. That's because for a period of 32 hours during the deepest freeze of February's winter storm, power companies were paying $9 per kilowatt-hour for the electricity — about 75 times higher than the state's average winter costs. Companies passed those costs on to consumers. Texans facing those unexpected bills were hoping that Texas' utility regulator would retroactively reduce the electricity market prices. But on Friday, the state's Public Utility Commission chose to let the charges stand.