Ken Lay's great electricity deregulation in Texas has been a total flop. Before screwing his employees and stock holders Lay laid it to the consumers in Texas by lobbying for deregulation. It worked but the promises of lower rates or even stable rates was nothing but that. Promises.
In order to "help" the consumer the Public Utility Commission has created the Power to Choose website, also known as the Power to Lose. The site is complicated, deceiving, full of misleading information and extremely hard to understand. Don't believe me? Try it yourself. PowerToChoose.org. Try to find an affordable fixed rate plan for 12-60 months. Good luck. You will need it. Just for grins, I performed the search and looked for the highest priced plan available. Spark Energy was listed at 10-20-40 cents per kWh. You can try to figure out this rate by downloading the Electricity Facts Label.
Consumers are not a picky bunch. They want to know how much will they pay and how many features will be available. Before regulation consumers knew exactly how much they would pay. Here in Houston under Houston Light & Power (HL&P) it was just under 8 cents a kWh. You received a paper bill each month. You mailed a check or paid at the grocery store. No one seemed to care about monitoring their electricity use, or waiting for the weekend to turn on their AC unit to reap the benefits of their free weekends gimmick.
Texans are a gullible bunch of people. They actually think they are getting a good deal paying 12 cents/kWh.
No comments:
Post a Comment