It was a known fact that electricity rates would take a substantial hike after Donna Nelson and the PUC approved an increase in the market cap last summer. And I’ve been steadily watching those rates rise since then. And this summer in particular I’ve seen more angry reviews than usual from customers complaining about the […]
I’ve been fairly critical of the PUC in recent posts, but recently Donna Nelson did speak out on something that I do actually agree with…or at the very least, it seems fair. As the generation capacity of Texas continues to shrink, and as the PUC’s efforts to lure new generation to date have failed,
If you’ve read Part 1 and Part 2 of my examination of AEP’s application to sell deregulated electricity in Texas you are acquainted with both the basics of the situation, as well as just how much confusion exists by consumers in the Texas marketplace. In this section, I’m going to pick back up on market […]
So if you’ve read part one of my look into AEP’s application to sell retail electricity, you have an understanding of the rules that separate TDUs and REPs, as well as AEP’s place in the Texas electricity market. Now it is time to highlight why what AEP is doing is problematic for consumers. Lets jump […]
Paul Ring over at Energy Choice Matters has been on fire lately with a number of interesting and thoughtful articles. In the latest one, Paul analyzes some comments Calpine COO Thad Hill in regards to the issues that Texas is having in attracting new investments in energy generation. Calpine is a fortune 500 company with […]
Last week’s purchase of First Choice Power by Direct Energy was yet another major acquisition of a Retail Electricity Provider by a major energy conglomerate. There’s been around a half a dozen of these deals in the past year, and in my opinion things have gotten a bit muddled and confusing. So I wanted to […]
I ran across an article on the Houston Chronicle’s Fuel Fix Blog this morning. Normally, this is a great blog with lots of interesting articles that I read on a very regular basis. Today’s entry, however, by Loren Steffy, is one of the more backwards and lazy efforts I’ve seen on the Texas deregulated electricity […]
The JD Power & Associates group has released their most recent survey of the deregulated electricity providers operating in Texas. In their own words: The study, now in its fourth year, measures customer satisfaction with retail electric utility providers in Texas by examining four key factors (listed in order of importance): price; billing and payment; […]
So I recently saw an article that a group called Recharge Texas released through Business Wire discussing some truly wrongheaded ideas. Recharge Texas claims to be the state’s “premier website for energy consumers.” I wonder if just maybe that title was something they gave to themselves. Without further ado, let’s jump right in and examine […]
In what looks to be the first major regulated area opening up since the initial deregulation in 2002(that I can remember, there may have been others), Sharyland Utilities is set to transition to a deregulated electricity market. Starting in January 2014, Sharyland Utilities and their 44,000 residential and commercial customers in 28 different counties of […]