Full Title: Electricity Prices in Texas
Author(s): Texas Coalition for Affordable Power
Publisher(s): Texas Coalition for Affordable Power
Publication Date: December 1, 2013
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Under the Texas electric deregulation law, consumers in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Corpus Christi and surrounding areas can choose among different retail electric providers. These providers compete for customers by offering different terms of service and prices. However about 15 percent of the state remains exempt from this competitive system for buying and selling electricity. Areas exempt from retail electric deregulation include San Antonio and Austin, which operate municipally- owned utilities. Electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities operating outside the ERCOT region also are exempt.
This bifurcated electricity system — with some Texans served by the deregulated market and some living in areas exempt from electric deregulation — provides a unique opportunity to compare pricing outcomes. The Texas electric deregulation law was adopted in 1999, with the promise that it would lower rates. But as this analysis shows, the results have been mixed.
For this Snapshot Report, the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power reviewed pricing data obtained from the United States Energy Information Administration (US EIA). This analysis includes data for 11 years, from 2002 — the first year of deregulation — through 2012. This report does not include data for 2013 because the information necessary to perform the pricing analysis for that year is not yet available.
TCAP reviewed both pricing and sales data for electricity providers in Texas, and then calculated average prices charged to residential customers in areas of Texas inside and outside deregulation. TCAP has included in this report US EIA data for areas outside of Texas, as well as findings from previous TCAP reports. This report focuses primarily on residential rates.