Texans getting screwed by energy deregulation. Surprise surprise.
by David Atkins
Energy deregulation: it’s not just for screwing California consumers anymore. Texas energy companies have been dipping their vampire fangs into the bloodstream of Texas consumers as well:
Texans living in deregulated electricity areas paid about $22 billion more in the last decade than they would have under a regulated system, according a recent analysis by a consumer group.
Texas residential consumers have paid as much as 45 percent more for deregulated electricity than their counterparts in regulated areas of the state since lawmakers devised the new system for much of the state in 1999, according to the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power, which recently published an assessment of Texas energy price data from 2002 through 2012.
The findings raise questions about claims made at the time that deregulation would result in lower prices for Texan consumers. While prices for both deregulated and regulated electricity have fallen since their peak in 2008, average deregulated prices remain about 3 cents high per kilowatt hour than their regulated counterparts for residential consumers…
Prices for deregulated electricity in Texas have also stayed higher than national electricity prices for most of this time, dipping below the national average in 2012 for the first time since deregulation started. In 2012, Texans in deregulated areas paid 11.75 cents per kilowatt hour while the the national average was 11.82 cents. Prior to deregulation, Texans had consistently paid lower electricity rates than the national average throughout the 1990s, the report said.
Maybe it’s just the Christmas spirit talking, but I simply cannot fathom the level of dedication to greed that allows these people who push ALEC-style deregulatory policies knowing that it will further impoverish consumers to benefit rich executives, to sleep easy at night. I couldn’t do it. I would be wracked with guilt for even being a party to it. Progressives talk a lot about sociopathic policies on the right. It’s not necessarily that we believe that everyone who implements them is a sociopath, obviously. But at some point you would expect conscience to kick in for normal people.
