Keep The Lights On -- New Energy and Consumer Blog

Check out this promising new consumer and energy blog, Keep The Lights On, which you can find here. Although this blog is just getting under way, it already includes plenty of useful tips for comparing electric prices, filing complaints, and reviewing the fine-print detail in electric bills. The blogger behind the keyboard is Cory Henrickson, a legislative staffer working in the office of state Rep. Sylvester Turner.

In one of his first posts, Henrickson analyzes PUC rules governing level-payment plans. “The rule mandates that a retail electric provider must offer a customer an average or level billing plan if a customer so desires — the ONLY qualification one must meet is that they are current on their bills,” he writes.

In another, Henrickson reviews retail electric provider contracts -- including one that permits a nearly $10 surcharge on customers who conserve energy. "The devil is in the details," writes Henrickson.

Henrickson’s boss, state Rep. Turner, is a member of the House State Affairs Committee, which has legislative responsibility for electric utility issues. Turner also has been advocating recently for new customer protection rules at the PUC.

-- R.A. Dyer

Seeking Emergency Protections: Round 2

Shrugging off an earlier rejection by the agency, state Rep. Sylvester Turner and the AARP have filed a revised petition before the Public Utility Commission calling for the creation of new protections for elderly and infirm electric customers during the hottest days of summer.

The petition calls for the temporary suspension of cancellation fees for customers who seek to save money by switching electric providers. The new petition also calls upon electric retailers to notify customers about the availability of rate discounts. The petition was filed July 17 and signed by Turner, AARP and several other consumer groups.

The PUC on July 2 rejected an earlier proposal by the same coalition that would have banned electric disconnections when the heat index was forecast to reach 105 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. In issuing that earlier rejection, the commissioners said those who face summertime disconnections because they pay too much for electricity should switch providers. The commissioners also noted that low-income customers can get rate discounts through the LITE UP Texas program.

But in a July 17 letter accompanying the new petition, Turner said customers who want to switch providers face substantial obstacles. “Termination fees of several hundred dollars effectively prevent customers from switching,” he wrote. Turner also said that several hundred thousand Texans who are eligible for the LITE UP program likely do not receive assistance from it.

“Since the July 2, 2009 Open Meeting, ERCOT has experienced record high electricity usage,” wrote Turner. “Of course that is due to the extreme and persistent heat we are experiencing. The prior record usage day was in 2006, the last time the Commission took action to prevent dangerous electricity disconnections. More reports of heat related illnesses and death continue to come in. The Public Utility Commission has significant latitude in crafting solutions to dangerous electricity disconnections during the summertime. I urge you to do so.”

The next PUC open meeting is July 30th.

-- R.A. Dyer

Windfall profits under Cap and Trade

Texas consumers may end up paying another billion dollars each year as a consequence of federal cap-and-trade legislation according to a new report.

Sponsored by a coalition of utility commissioners and consumer groups, the report also warns of higher "unproductive" costs from the legislation because a single price sets all spot prices in deregulated wholesale markets. That means there could be an uptick in price for power from all sorts of generators -- even those that emit little or no greenhouse gases -- according to the report.

"In deregulated markets, it is likely that any allowance allocation will result in consumer-funded windfall profits for certain generating plant owners, at least in the early years," noted the study, drafted on behalf of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, the American Public Power Association and other groups.

The report added that granting free cap-and-trade credits would increase windfall profits in both regulated and deregulated markets. A provision for granting free allowances to transmission companies was ushered into the House version of the bill at the urging of utility lobbyists, according to media accounts.

The incremental cost to consumers in the ERCOT region could run anywhere from $848 million to $3.3 billion per year, depending on the final language of the legislation. The report's authors stressed, however, that it is not their position that greenhouse gas legislation is prohibitively expensive, nor that its costs would likely exceed its benefits.

An earlier analysis conducted by ERCOT noted that a typical monthly electric bill could increase by $27 as a consequence of proposed climate change legislation.

-- R.A. Dyer