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