Utilities

Consumer Groups Ask TX Railroad Commission to Adopt Stronger Consumer Protections
AScribe Newswire 10/29/02

New late fees, onerous deposit requirements, and counterproductive proposals made by the gas industry are among major concerns submitted to the Texas Railroad Commission by leading Texas consumer groups.

Consumers Union, Texas Ratepayers' Organization to Save Energy [Texas ROSE] and Texas Legal Services Center, in a detailed 21-page response to the proposed rule revisions, say that while the proposed rules incorporate a few needed reforms, on balance they do not treat consumers fairly.

"It will be a long, cold and costly winter for Texans and rules about to be considered by the Railroad Commission could help--or make matters worse, depending on how the Commissioners vote," said Janee Briesemeister, senior policy analyst with the Southwest Regional Office of Consumers Union. "Home heating bills are expected to increase significantly this winter based on the combined effect of high natural gas prices and colder weather. The Railroad Commission has the opportunity to help consumers manage these costs by adopting much needed reforms." The consumer groups are seeking the following reforms that will help consumers survive high gas bills this winter:

Solicitor general pegged for PUC
The Dallas Morning News 10/29/02

Gov. Rick Perry plans to appoint Texas Solicitor General Julie Caruthers Parsley to the Texas Public Utility Commission after the elections, filling a position that has been empty since the agency's former chairman resigned in January.

"We found it very frustrating that it has taken so long to get someone appointed to this agency," said Janee Briesemeister, a policy analyst with Consumers Union. "There are a lot of problems in this state's telecom and electric markets and the commission could very much use a third commissioner. It does raise some concern that the governor appears to be waiting until after the election to make an appointment."

SBC Stages Rally in San Antonio
Knight Ridder Tribune Business News 10/16/02

SBC Communications Inc. staged a pep rally-style gathering Tuesday to defend itself from ads criticizing the telecom giant's controversial decision to blame its latest round of job cuts on regulators.

Government and civic leaders joined hundreds of SBC employees at the rally in front of one of the San Antonio-based company's downtown offices.

They defended the company against recent television and print ads from Voices for Choices, a group backed by competitors AT&T and MCI WorldCom.
The ads take a swipe at SBC for claiming pricing rules are causing it to cut 11,000 jobs by early next year.

Voices for Choices didn't return phone calls, but competitors and consumer groups blasted SBC, the parent of Southwestern Bell, for painting itself as a victim of regulations aimed at opening its local markets to competition.
They said the former monopoly's job cuts are in reaction to slowing sales and a weak economy, not the pricing rules, which were set by federal regulators and upheld by the Supreme Court.

"Now that Southwestern Bell is finally facing a little competition, they don't like it," said Janee Briesemeister, senior policy analyst for Consumers Union. "What they want is complete deregulation with no competition and the ability to make as much unfettered profit as possible." What's more, the company's cuts last week caught flack from California regulators.

U.K., Texas market night, day for TXU
The Dallas Morning News 10/14/02

The British electricity market is facing sharply lower wholesale power prices, a tightening credit environment and growing competition for retail customers.
So is the Texas market.

Despite the similarities, TXU Corp. executives maintain that problems in the United Kingdom - whose electricity market deregulated several years before Texas' - are not a sign of things to come here.

TXU has repeatedly said that its U.K. problems won't affect North American operations.
But companies across the U.S. sector have faced crises after losing investor confidence and watching their stock prices collapse, said Janee Briesemeister, a senior policy analyst at Consumers Union in Austin.

"If the company is less stable, or it costs more money for them to borrow money, they can't make investments that they need to make," said Ms. Briesemeister, whose organization has monitored Texas' nearly 1-year-old deregulation program on behalf of consumers. "Eventually that comes around to hurt consumers."