Texas Legislators Hear Testimony on Minimum Charges for Electric Customers

Texas Legislators Hear Testimony on Minimum Charges for Electric Customers

March 26, 2015

by Denise Stokes; Copyright 2015 by Competitive Assets, LLC.  All rights reserved

At the 3/25/15 Hearing of the Texas House State Affair Committee, the legislators heard testimony on HB 2254.  This bill states that a Retail Electric Provider (REP) may not charge a fee or give a customer a credit based on whether the customer used at least a certain amount of electricity during a particular period of time.  Consumers find that the minimum usage fees sometimes cause them to have higher bills when they conserve energy.  Furthermore, such fees sometimes cause the lowest income consumers to pay more for their electricity.  However, such fees have historically been charged on some rate plans because the electricity provider must incur expenses to serve a customer, the largest expense of which is usually buying power in advance so that they can serve the customer at a relatively stable cost, and therefore charge a relatively stable price.  The bill therefore drew both opposition and support, and is one to watch as the legislative session progresses.  The topic of minimum usage fees was the subject matter of an issue of Texas Electric Watch entitled Is Shopping for Electricity in TExas Really a “Great Sham?”  Individual issues of Texas Electric Watch may be purchased here.

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Posted by CompetitiveAssets on March 26th, 2015

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