Texas electricity deregulation opinions all over the grid in industry panel

Depending on who you are, deregulation of the Texas electric industry has been a boon or a burden.

We gathered nine executives, officials and consumer advocates to discuss who has benefited from deregulation, who has been harmed and what’s to come.

There was no consensus. Retail executives said their customers want the freedom to choose among pricing plans and features, but one consumer advocate said people simply want low prices, and they “don’t give a flip” about choice.

Participants also discussed confusion about contract terms, stricter repercussions for taking advantage of consumers and whether smart meters will change the customer’s experience.

Most of the participants agreed on one point: Anyone who tries to live in the past, who cannot or will not learn about the new system, could get hurt.

The Texas Legislature deregulated the retail electric industry in 2002. No longer would utility monopolies reign. At that point, most people served by the Texas grid could choose their retail provider. Lawmakers had already deregulated the wholesale market, allowing any willing investors to build generation plants and trade power.

Only the power line utilities, such as Oncor, remain fully regulated.

Since 2002, Texans have debated whether deregulation caused prices to rise or fall. Officials, lobbyists and corporations have produced dozens of studies designed to prove their points.

Read the full article on the Dallas Morning News.

Electricity Rates Are Cheap Right Now

Unless you are an energy professional you probably don’t spend a great deal of time paying attention to what electricity rates are doing in your town. Some summers you may have been able to sign up at a very cheap electricity price and then the next summer prices are high again. The same type of price fluctuations happen in the winter as well. Some people spur on the misconception that electricity rates are always higher during the summer. This is not always the case it is just that there is usually more price volatility in the summer time. This price volatility can cause electricity rates to go down dramatically just as much as go up.

Winter months can be just as volatile to electricity prices. Fortunately this winter electricity prices have remained low. Even today as energy prices are up you can still lock in at a very good electricity rate. For the last several weeks prices have been coming down and looking better and better. Electricity can only come down so much and at this time we are experiencing some very good energy price levels. If you are wanting to wait until electricity rates come down even further I do not recommend this strategy. We have a good position right now to lock in for 1 – 2 years on a very good fixed electric rate.

Read the entire article on ElectricityBid.com.

Competition Brings Texas Electric Rates Below National Average

With customer choice forcing Texas electric companies to compete for customers’ business, Texas electric rates have gone from above the national average before competition, to below the national average.  However, that’s not the story that’s typically reported by the media, because the federal Energy Information Administration is using flawed data which underestimates the significant decline in Texas power prices since the start of competition, according to a new study by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF).

“Most competitive prices are considerably lower than what is reported in the federal government’s data,” said Bill Peacock, Director of the Foundation’s Center for Economic Freedom. “In fact, the average competitive price is below the national average, and consumers who exercise their choice can easily find rates that are lower than in our neighboring states.”

TPPF found that the average electric rate offered by electric companies in the competitive regions of Texas in December 2009 was 11.01 cents/kWh, while consumers could choose offers as low as 8.52 cents/kWh.  However, the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that Texas consumers paid an average of 12.26 cents/kWh in October 2009 (the most recent month of data).

For 2009, the EIA data shows a national average price of 12.06 cents/kWh.  According to EIA, the average Texas rate is 12.26 cents/kWh, but in reality, the average Texas rate in parts of the state open to competition is actually lower — only 11.01 cents/kWh.  Texas energy prices are thus below the national average in areas where Texans can choose their energy provider.

Read the entire article on SaveOnEnergy.com.

Put Extra Money in Your Pocket by Switching to a Low Texas Electric Rate

If it’s been more than six months since the last time you’ve shopped for an electric rate, you’re probably paying too much, as Texas energy prices have fallen drastically in the past year.  By using SaveOnEnergy.com to find the lowest Texas electric rate, you could easily pocket $30, $40, or even $50 per month in savings on your electric bill.

SaveOnEnergy.com takes the guesswork out of finding the lowest electric rate.  Instead of having to sort a mountain of competing offers from dozens of electric companies, SaveOnEnergy.com takes the lowest rates from the best, most reputable energy providers, and stacks them up side by side, so you can easily find the rate that’s best for you.

That means you can compare energy prices in just a few minutes, instead of making it a massive, time consuming project.  Rather than spending hours trying to find some savings on your monthly expenses, SaveOnEnergy.com lets you, in just a few minutes with a few clicks of the mouse, find a low electric power rate that could save you up to $600 per year, depending on what your current rate is.  The last time most Texans thought about electric rates was in the summer of 2008, when electricity was in the news because of high price spikes.  If you locked-in a rate during this time, to avoid further price spikes, you may be paying 14¢ or 15¢ per kilowatt-hour.  Since the summer of 2008, Texas energy prices have fallen by more than a one-third, and low rates can now be found on SaveOnEnergy.com at 9¢ or 10¢.  Simply by switching from your current high Texas electric rate to a new low rate on SaveOnEnergy.com, you can capture these savings, and put more money in your pocket.

Read the entire article on SaveOnEnergy.com.

Smart Meters – Will They Help Save Us Money?

It’s a great question to ask, and an important one for the future of our electricity needs. If you’re not familiar with these little systems, they were built to help us save money on our utility bills. Now, you probably want to know more about it, but the thing is this is what the electric companies tell us. It’s our job to figure out whether or not it’s true, and who will actually benefit from it.

Soon you will be able to find these electricity meters in your neighborhood – in fact many are being used today. It’s said that we will be able to save all kinds of energy when we do. Right now they are only found in a small fraction of the 3,000 utility companies across the country.

Smart meters take the place of regular power meters. They send data about power consumption by radio signal. This data is received directly by the power company, which can send signals back to tell the meter what to do. This means no more meter readers and no more delay in bills. That means that companies will be able to keep track of consumption as it rises and lowers throughout the course of the day. That permits them to start implementing based on supply and demand, giving users at off-peak times bargain pricing. This kind of pricing is already pretty common among industrial users. It’s just recently that it’s reached commercial and residential electricity markets. As of 2005, the federal government is recommending that state utility commissions consider demand-response pricing. Utilities have planned to deploy over forty million smart meters by 2010.

Read the entire article at Texas Electric Buzz.

Fines for Failed Texas Electric Providers Show Need for Customers to Seek Expert Advice When Shopping for a Low Electric Rate

Last week the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas imposed a total of $3.7 million in penalties on two retail electric providers related to their default in 2008, which left thousands of customers “stranded” and forced to pay a very high energy price.  The penalties are a reminder of the dangers of going it alone when looking for a lower electric rate, as history has shown that not all electric companies are equally dependable and stable.

The PUC’s fines date back to the high prices experienced by Texas customers in the spring and summer of 2008, and the failure of two energy providers: National Power Co. Inc. and Pre-Buy Electric LLC.  Both suppliers, prior to running into trouble, had some of the lowest electric rates in the market, enticing customers to sign up with these firms.  However, both companies lacked proper internal controls and risk management processes to serve customers reliably.  When wholesale electric prices soared, these companies had not hedged their purchases in advance, and could not cover the exorbitant costs of serving their customers.  The end result was that thousands of these companies’ customers, who had been promised some of the lowest electric rates in the state, were shifted to the emergency “back-up” electric company, known at the Provider of Last Resort.  In some cases, the rates customers ended up paying for the emergency Provider of Last Resort service was more than double the rate they were promised from their original electric company.

Read the entire article at SaveOnEnergy.com.

Energy Service Can Be Cheaper When Shopping Around

You often hear that the electricity energy coming to your home is all the same so it really doesn’t matter which electric company you choose. This opens up the window for the sales person to then tell you that the most important point is to pick the cheapest electricity company since the energy is all the same. I agree with this to a point.

A problem comes in when a customer approaches the Texas energy service shopping process in this way but fails to understand the rate. Another problem can crop up if the customer chooses an electricity company that is new to the market, has undercut almost all established Texas electric providers, and has a small amount of capital backing. A small energy company that comes in and all the sudden is offering the cheapest electricity rate causes some of the larger energy suppliers to salivate. Why is this? The smaller company is in danger of going out of business and having the PUCT take all of their customers away from them and giving them to what is known as, “The Provider Of Last Resort”.

Read the entire article at electricitybid.com.

Know Your Texas Electricity: The Electricity Facts Label (from Bounce Energy Blog)

Texas Electricity Company Bounce Energy has a post up about EFLs…

The Electricity Facts Label (EFL) is a standard format sheet required by the Public Utility Commission of Texas that provides Texas consumers with important information on prices, contract terms, power generation sources and emission levels. Similar to the nutrition labels on food products required by the FDA, the EFL is essentially a comparison vehicle to help customers make informed decisions about their electricity service.

So customers in deregulated areas of Texas should always ask, and be provided access to, EFLs for any electricity plan they compare. The consistent format and presentation of information allows for an “apples to apples” comparison that makes the process of shopping for a Texas electricity provider a more streamlined process.

 

Visit the Bounce Energy Blog.

Indexed Plans: What You Need To Know (TexasElectricityRatings.com)

I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s seen the new TXU commercials that are appearing everywhere on TV lately. The commercials don’t really promote any TXU products, instead they talk more about Variable Rate plans and things that potentially make them risky or dangerous. They’ve got their advertising webpage set up here for people to poke through and compare against other Texas electricity providers. The commercials don’t really, in my opinion, do a good job of promoting Indexed Plans and explaining what they’re all about, so I want to take the time on this blog to shed the light on the facts about Indexed Plans.

Now, the biggest part of Texas Electricity Ratings and the part I’m most proud of is the consumer advocacy aspect of the website. And with TXU’s release of their new Indexed plan, Texas Electricity Ratings has a rare opportunity to take a look at a new plan as it hits the market and is hitting public awareness. A large percentage of the people who share their experiences with me often have bad stories or negative reviews, and most of the time these are centered around shifting prices or unmet expectations with the plans they sign up for. So now I want to take a look at what exactly are the key pieces of TXU’s Index Plan so people can have an understanding of exactly what makes it different from the Variable Rate plans and what they should expect, in advance, if they sign up for an Index plan. So lets get into what I found.

Read the entire post at TexasElectricityRatings.com.

National Power Company Assessed PUCT Violation Fees

On October 8 2009 the PUCT filed a report detailing the fees and violations that National Power Company were assessed for several violations against the Texas state government and Texas retail electric customers. Below is a list of some of the PUCT rules the state has said National broke during their short lived time as one of the lowest priced electricity companies in Texas last summer.

Notice of violation concerning the assessment of administrative penalties and other related relief against National Power Company Inc. (National) for violations in the State of Texas of the following Public Utility Commission of Texas Substantive Rules Applicable to Electric Service Providers: P.U.C. Subst. R. 25.107(f)(2), related to Financial Standards Required for Customer Protection; P.U.C. Subst. R. 25.107(i)(8), related to Requirements for Reporting and for Changing Terms of a REP Certificate; P.U.C. Subst. R. 25.478(j)(2), related to Refunding Deposits and Voiding Letters of Guarantee; and P.U.C. Subst. R. 25.43(n)(7), related to Transition of Customer to POLR Service.

Read the entire article at ElectricityBid.com.