October 24, 2001—The Texas electric market is not ready for the scheduled January 2002 opening to competition, according to five of the state’s leading consumer groups in a recent filing made at the Public Utility Commission.
Texas Ratepayers’ Organization to Save Energy, Texas Legal Services Center, Consumers Union, AARP, and Public Citizen said the pilot projects have yet to fully test operational systems and have failed to demonstrate that consumers will benefit from lower prices and high quality service.
Among the problems cited by the groups:
- All switches will not be processed until the middle of November, leaving less than two months to test billing metering systems.
- Customers dependent on electricity for medical equipment or life support have no uniform standards in place to protect them.
- Computer system problems, including outages, have been common during the pilot.
- The “provider of last resort —the company that will serve customers who have no other providers— is flawed since it will have the highest priced electricity available in the market and will be the only entity that can order the disconnection of service for nonpayment.
- The process of billing utilities for activity in the wholesale market, known as settlements, is in dispute.
For more information, contact Consumer Union.
