Brownwood: The politics of Screwing the Poor
Low-income Texans to see increase in electric bills
By The Associated Press
AUSTIN — About 391,000 low-income Texans will see an increase in their electric bills because lawmakers drained a discount fund to balance the state budget.
The Texas Public Utility Commission started notifying low-income homes on Monday that a 10 percent discount on their bills will be discontinued next month.
"There's going to be rate shock next month when low-income Texans open their electricity bills," said Tim Morstad of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. "There is a real concern that eliminating this discount during the peak of the summer could put people in danger of excessive heat."
The average customer pays a 65-cent fee each month on their electric bills to raise about $200 million a year for the System Benefit Fund.
But the money will be used for programs largely unrelated to electricity, including Medicaid.
The discount fund began in 2002 as part of negotiations that led to deregulation of the electric utility industry in about 75 percent of the state.
At its peak, almost 800,000 Texans received a 17 percent discount on their bills. In May lawmakers eliminated the discount, beginning Sept. 1.
Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, said that shifting the funds is equivalent to a hidden tax.
"We've had so much talk this session about truth in taxation. This goes totally against the grain for integrity," he said.
Consumer groups say that using the funds for an unrelated purpose constitutes improper accounting practices.
Carol Biedrzycki, executive director of Texas Ratepayers' Organization to Save Energy, said the program's money should be removed from the state treasury to prevent another raid by lawmakers.
"It was their job to make sure that money was safe and that it was dedicated to help people pay their electric bills," she said. "There's something wrong when the people you thought would protect the money take it away."
Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com and The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com
------
---------------
As it relates.......Posted on Thu, Sep. 22, 2005 Letters to the editor Ft Worth Star Telegram
Profits and rate increases
The Sept. 15 headline said, "TXU's electric rates will rise 12 percent." Keep breathing. Yes, 12 percent higher rates next month from TXU.
I'll have to ask for a raise again. From June through September, my TXU bill has totaled close to $1,500. I've decided to move from my 1,100-square-foot house to an even smaller one.
Paul Hudson, chairman of the Public Utility Commission, was pleased to have gotten a cap on rate increases for the past three months. He was quoted as saying: "So we've managed to avoid the immediate issue of the potential uptick in prices ... from the hurricane." (Until November, that is, and then customers can expect rates to go even higher next year.)
If we did away with the PUC, is it possible that we, the ratepayers, might be able to broker a better deal? I say let's get a better deal. And we need to get started before the higher levels begin in January.
Kay Singleton
----------------
Am I missing something here? On Aug. 3, you ran an article about TXU profits being up 48 percent, and now the utility asks for a 12 percent rate increase, with more promised shortly.
How much profit is TXU allowed to get us for? It seems that 10 percent would be a nice rate of return. I'd love to hear from someone to explain how you justify an increase when profits are so high.
George Clark
-----------------
Am I the only one who can see that, as a consumer, I'm being exploited by TXU? The story announcing a 12 percent increase was a miserable attempt to make me feel lucky because the PUC was able to "negotiate" with TXU to avoid an 18 percent increase.
That was the good news. The bad news was that we'll get another increase in four months.
The increase was caused by a jump in natural gas prices. The fact is that natural gas is used to generate less than 50 percent of the power required. This inequity reminds us that TXU has bought and paid for enough influence in Austin to make its own rules. The PUC established a rule that allows the rate increases to be based on natural gas prices.
Why are consumers not feeling the benefits of the billion-dollar boondoggle nuclear plant at Glen Rose? We were asked to bail out TXU after it spent obscene amounts of money on cost overruns. What short memories we have.
Jim Gaddy
source:http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/local2/12711841.htm
<< Home