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

Call for Emergency Disconnection Rules

State Rep. Sylvester Turner has called upon Texas regulators to adopt emergency rules that would protect electric customers against disconnections during the dog days of summer.

In a petition filed before the Texas Public Utility Commission, the Houston lawmaker has proposed a ban on electricity disconnections in any area in which the heat index is forecast to hit 105 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

The move comes just as Texas cities begin to wilt under sweltering high temperatures. In Houston, for example, the high was 101 degrees on Wednesday – but with 40 percent relative humidity. According to a National Weather Service table, that would place the heat index in the Bayou City at between 109 and 114 degrees.

The petition calls upon the PUC to set up rules that would require electric companies to keep the power flowing during the hottest months, but also to set up payment plans for customers who fall behind on their bills. The proposed rules are modeled on legislation that Turner and others unsuccessfully attempted to pass during the 81st Legislative Session, which ended June 1.

“Summer is here and record temperatures are being set across the State -- we can not afford to take this dire situation lightly,” said Rep. Turner. “That is why I filed the petition so quickly and that is why I strongly urge the Commissioners at the PUC to set an emergency meeting and take up the issue immediately.”

AARP Texas and several other consumer groups have joined the petition. “While AARP continues to urge the Texas Legislature to fix the problem permanently, we ask the PUC to do the responsible thing and protect the lives and health of many citizens who are at increased risk this summer,” said AARP state director Bob Jackson.

The PUC likely will consider Turner’s petition during its July 2nd meeting.

-- R.A. Dyer

CREZ, Community and Rights of Way

The preservation of community values, recreational areas, and the environment are just three of the factors that the Texas Public Utility Commission must consider as it adopts routing plans for the hundreds of miles of new transmission lines going up in West Texas and the Panhandle.

The lines themselves will be massive: they're the 345 KV variety with poles that stand over 115 feet tall and right of way that can extend 150-180 feet. The lines could end up cutting through ranch land, residential subdivisions and city property. They're contemplated for numerous areas around West Texas, Central Texas and North Texas -- including areas around Killeen, Kempner, Holliday, Sweetwater, Roscoe and Snyder.

It's all part of the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone process that calls for $5-6 billion in new transmission investment to encourage wind energy development. When complete, the CREZ lines will substantially increase transmission connections to parts of the state where the wind blows the heaviest.

But the process is complicated and it's important to know your rights. First the Commission must decide on specific routes, including the designation of priority projects. Transmission service providers like Oncor must also conduct routing studies and conduct public meetings in affected areas. Local residents concerned about the new lines can inquire about the public meetings and can also intervene at the Public Utility Commission.

According to PUC rules, "the line shall be routed to the extent reasonable to moderate the impact on the affected community and landowners unless grid reliability and security dictate otherwise." The PUC must consider historical and aesthetic values, environmental integrity and whether the routes parallel existing compatible rights-of-way.

Some information can be found at the PUC website, under Docket No. 36801. A word of warning: this stuff can be complicated.


-- Lambeth Townsend

Oncor's White Elephant

“Bagging a white elephant” -- that’s how the Dallas Morning News characterized moves by Oncor to purchase nearly 900,000 automated meters now considered to be obsolete because they fail to meet state guidelines.

In his June 5th front page article, reporter Steve McGonigle chronicled how Oncor wants its customers to pay $93 million for the meters – even though most of the company’s customers never received them. He also notes that experts advising the Texas Public Utility Commission have found that much of the company's expenditures in this regard were imprudent.

“These costs should be borne by Oncor, not by ratepayers,” PUC staff attorney Patrick Peters III asserted in a document obtained by the Morning News.

Oncor’s request for more money for obsolete meters comes on top of the $2.21 monthly surcharge the company recently began collecting for hundreds of thousands of separate advanced meters. These new meters became necessary when it became clear that the first generation meters did not meet state guidelines.

The newspaper also quoted local resident Joel Morgan, a disabled auto parts salesman from Rockwall, who said in a letter to the Public Utility Commission that he and his wife have no interest in paying for automated meters – obsolete or not.

“Please keep us in mind when these BIG BOYS with the DEEP POCKETS come to you asking for permission to stick it to us again and again and again,” he wrote

KHOU-TV: Houstonians Paying Too Much for Power?

More than $1 billion -- that's how much Houstonians pay in excess electricity costs each year under deregulation, according to a recent segment on KHOU-TV in Houston. Reporter Dave Fehling noted that residents in San Antonio and Austin -- two cities that remain outside deregulation -- pay far less for electricity.

How much less? According to the analysis in Fehling's report, electricity that sells for $102 in San Antonio and Austin goes for about $159 in Houston. Do the math and that equals $1.2 billion in extra costs for Houstonians every year, according to the report.

"These people make a profit off the citizens of Houston by doing nothing," Houston homeowner Patsy Young told the reporter, referencing the high cost of electricity in her city because of flaws in the deregulated system.

The KHOU-TV report also noted that proposed opt-out aggregation programs offered the promise of savings, but that they have been opposed by the electric industry. Under opt-out aggregation, cities could purchase electricity in bulk on behalf of their citizens.

You can see the KHOU-TV report here.
-- R.A. Dyer