Wednesday, August 29, 2007

OK. If Texas is number one in windpower, is TXU ripping me off?

So Texas is the number one state in wind power.

Why does TXU want to build more coal-powered plants, and why the Hell am I paying two to three times the rate per KWH as I would in other states? Why are state-run power companies the lowest priced in the U.S.?

Monopolies like power generation companies and distribution networks need to be nationalized so that we get reliable power at reasonable prices. TXU is proof the free market does not work on natural monopolies.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

you're paying a higher kWh price because other lower priced states rely more on less expensive coal to generate electricity

texas, on the other hand, relies on relatively more expensive natural gas to produce most of its electricity ...

it's simple, higher cost feedstock higher priced electricity ... lower cost feedstock, lower priced electricity ...

wind has very little to do with it ... it is a very small part of the overall generation mix in texas ... its growing and that's good, but it has nothing to do with market price of electricity

Richard said...

Really?

I thought it was primarily because TXU is an unregulated monopoly.

For some reason KKR, the venture capitalist firm, thinks that they can make an even greater profit here. That is demonstrated by their willingness to pay more than market value for TXU in their current takeover effort.

Of course, as a ratepayer, my electricity bill will have to go up to allow the investors to recover what they are offering to buy the company.

Between TXU, State Farm Insurance and AT&T we Texans are being farmed for our money so that the investors can get richer. No one ever asks the cattle if buying the ranch is a good idea. The guy who pays highest bid always just figures he can get a few more steaks off each carcass. Rate payers are the cattle in this game. But since the companies don't actually own the ratepayers, it is just a question of how to bleed them a little faster to those monopolists.

As for the higher priced feedstock of natural gas - surely you don't believe they are not gaming the price of natural gas a la Enron? It's like oil companies. Every time the international price of oil goes up, so do oil company profits.

Why not? Those companies already own our legislature and our governor.