Editor’s Note: The following concludes a three-part series by the Energy Alliance, a project of the Texas Business Coalition, examining how the Public Utility Commission of Texas has violated consumer choice and market forces in the Texas electric market. Part I was Storm Uri: The PUCT’s $26 billion Electricity Tax and Part II: Texas Defeats Electric Competition.
“The lack of investment in reliable and dispatchable sources of generation in ERCOT has already led to a decline in the reliability of the grid…. Further declines in generation from dispatchable sources will further increase prices for Texas consumers—on top of whatever price hikes the PUC may have planned for them.”
At stake in this case is whether Texans might experience some relief from the billions of dollars from the tax that have been passed on to them in the form of higher monthly electricity bills.…
Editor’s Note: The following is the second in a three-part series by the Energy Alliance, a project of the Texas Business Coalition, examining how the Public Utility Commission of Texas has violated consumer choice and market forces in the Texas electric market. Yesterday’s post, Storm Uri: The PUCT’s $26 billion Electricity Tax.
On January 30, the Texas Supreme Court will hold a hearing to determine whether the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) violated the Texas Legislature’s instructions that “electric services and their prices should be determined by customer choices and the normal forces of competition” when it arbitrarily set the price of electricity at $9,000 per megawatt hour during Winter Storm Uri. The Texas Third Court of Appeals has already determined the PUC’s action to be illegal.…
Editor’s Note: The following is the first part in a three-part series by the Energy Alliance, a project of the Texas Business Coalition, examining how the Public Utility Commission of Texas has violated consumer choice and market forces in the Texas electric market. MasterResource presents this analysis as an example of the perils of central planning and government monopoly.
On January 30, the Texas Supreme Court will hear arguments to determine the legality of a 2021 Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) rule that effectively imposed a $26 billion monopoly tax on buyers of electricity during Winter Storm Uri. The lawsuit to overturn the PUC’s decision was filed by electricity generator Luminant and others who lost money because of the PUC’s decision. [1] The Texas Third Court of Appeals found in favor of Luminant, ruling last year that the PUC’s price-setting rule was illegal.…