ODESSA, TX-Despite some disagreement within the ranks, the
Texas
deregulated electric utility market is just fine, a member
of the Public Utilities Commission of
Texas says.
State Rep. Steve Wolens, co-chair of the joint committee on oversight
of electric utility restructuring and a co-author of the 1999
deregulation law, in June called for an overhaul of the Electric
Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Wolens proposed a restructuring of
the board so that staff members would have more independence and the
board would be less influenced by private industry.
But Public Utility Commission Chairman Rebecca Klein, on a statewide
"deregulation education campaign," gave high marks to the
legislation that opened the electric industry to competition, saying it
created a "good market paradigm," the Odessa American reported. Klein
said she and other state legislators monitoring retail competition agree
they can "live with Senate Bill 7 as is," the paper reported.
A spokesperson for TXU Energy agreed, saying that early
problems have been worked out and that only minor tweaking remains to be
done. New service and billing problems prompted most of the complaints
about delays.
State Sen. Teel Bivins (R-Amarillo) told the newspaper that Texas
has largely avoided the pitfalls that caused problems in other states
and particularly in California. "If we see anything that's not being
dealt with by ERCOT or the PUC, I anticipate the legislature will act,"
he said. Bivins, who, like Rep. Wolens, is a member of the oversight
committee, said he would be watching for signs of energy
merchants trying to game the system.
Energy & Power Management
