E-D in the Houston area has produced no tangible benefits to the consumer. On the contrary, the only effects of deregulation I have seen is higher electric rates along with my annual anxiety and frustration as the contract expires with my current REP and I must again chose an REP and a plan for the following year. While making this decision, I must be very mindful of the 14 day window permitted to make a REP change, or else, I could fall into the trap set by my current provider called the “early termination fee” and be forced to pay some exhorbitant, undeserved fee.

Unfortunately, the consumer is purposefully placed at the disadvantage in this process. The consumer is presented choices, but exact and understandable contract terms are not fully disclosed, intentionally misleading, omittted or worse. It is impossible for the consumer to make a wise and informed choice for an REP and a plan, without all fees, charges, conditions and other terms being fully disclosed, understandable and comparable for the consumer.

The PUCT publishes a well know website http://www.powertochoose.org, touted to help the consumer make a wise and informed choice for a Retail Electric Provider. The website shows REP offers conveniently sorted from lowest to highest price (cents/1,000Kwh), but the lower price offers may be quite misleading for the consumer and are not truly comparable:

For example:
a)the low rates for (1)one-month terms (i.e. month-month) will generally jump 30-50% on subsequent months.
b) the low fixed-rates for some longer terms ( 6, 12, 24 months) may be “unbundled” and NOT include significant, variable electric utility charges (ex: fees for transmission & distribution (i.e. TDU), fuel, monthly fees) which ARE included in other’s rate plans.
c) PUCT’s Consumer Complaint Score for comparison not prominently displayed.

Even though E-D was fathered by the Texas legislature, the PUCT is the nanny but has been remiss and inattentive to its responsibilities. The members of the Public Utility Commission of Texas need to review and recommit to the first tenet of their mission statement “to protect customers”, since I sure don’t feel protected.

Some fine first steps would be to revise and fully standardize the FACTS Label and portions of the Terms of Service document to permit straight forward comparision of REP plans by the consumer and avoid all billing suprises and many other complaints as well. Additional steps could be made to make the http://www.powertochoose.org website more helpful for consumers by standardized forms, full disclosure and true comparisons. Perhaps, web-links to independant REP reviews could be considered. Also, strongly suggesting that the REP’s amortize their “termination-fee” over the contract term. To fully appreciate and grasp the effects which E-D has had for the average rate-payor, the PUCT should earnestly seek the comments, experiences and opinions of deregulated electricity consumers.

I naively presume that the legislature’s motives were pure when instituting E-D, but something has gone terribly wrong (for the electric consumer) as painfully demonstrated by the following facts: Our neighbors to the west in Austin and San Antonio (with municipally-owned electrical companies) who elected NOT to adopt E-D, are enjoying some of the lowest electric rates in the country, while Houstonians endure rates that are as much as 150% times theirs and among the highest in the country.

I believe the politicians and their appointed bureaucrats owe us an explanation.