HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas’s power grid operator on Friday canceled Griddy Energy LLC’s access to the state’s power network, and shifted all its customers to other utilities, according to a notice by the grid operator. Griddy was the power marketer that sold consumers power at wholesale rates, which rose to $9,000 per megawatt hour for days as cold weather struck the state last week. A request for comment was not immediately returned. A phone number listed on its website was not connected Friday afternoon. Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said it had begun transferring about 10,100 Griddy customers to one or more rival providers on Friday. Retail power providers that do not pay invoices within 72 hours can have all their customers reassigned to other electricity providers. ERCOT separately said $2 billion went unpaid from grid users this week, according to an official notice, another sign of the financial devastation from high electricity rates that has spread from consumers to utilities. The grid operator said it will cover $800 million of the shortfall by borrowing from internal accounts, and will draw an undisclosed amount from grid users with credit balances. An ERCOT spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment. The shortfall likely is the first of big unpaid bills to land at ERCOT, said Patrick Woodson, chief executive of power marketer Green Energy Exchange, which was among nine companies protesting multimillion dollar fees for blackout fees. “The price of surviving the first wave of these high bills is you get hit with additional costs in the second wave,” said Woodson. ERCOT spread unpaid fees among remaining grid users. ERCOT has faced a firestorm of criticism from residents and state officials this week after being caught ill-prepared for severe cold. It called on utilities to cut power to protect the grid, leaving 4.3 million people without heat or light. Seven of ERCOT’s 15 directors resigned this week and a nominee withdrew. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said public anger was justified and blamed ERCOT for not acting faster to keep generators from going offline.