Electricity shocker: Rates are going up!

In one of those news stories that makes us wonder whether people do any thinking ahead of time, KHOU reported yesterday that residential electric customers' rates have really gone up since the Texas electric market was deregulated in 2002. Yeah, choice is great, but Houstonist clearly remembers hearing people predict that deregulation would mean price breaks for businesses and industries and higher rates for average citizens. Apparently, no one else heard the same thing.

A Wall Street Journal article in May talked about the increase: Residential customers getting power from deregulated utilities saw a 43 percent increase between January 2002 and October 2004, while customers of regulated utilities had a 17 percent increase. Meanwhile, we've seen a lot of stories about businesses and institutions that have had huge price breaks as a result of deregulation, and KHOU reports that officials think it's working out just fine:

"It's been a success. It's led to substantial savings, brought in competition. Industrial and commercial users have had experienced substantial savings," said [utility company lobbyist John] Fainter.

So big companies are saving money on electricity, but what about little customers like Lillie Yett?

"I empathize with them," Fainter said.

Barry Smitherman is from Houston and is now on the Texas Public Utilities Commission, which sets rules for electric companies.

"It is working out well," he said.

A state legislative committee began hearing testimony yesterday about the effects of deregulation on small consumers — so we imagine we'll be seeing just how strong the utility company lobby is. In the meantime, we're going to keep working on our design for a laptop powered by pedals. Or hamsters.