Search Results for: lubbock

Future of Lubbock’s Power Supply Efforts Heads to Court, with Lubbock Citizens Paying Lawyers on Both Sides of Case

Michael Giberson In January I mentioned that a municipal utility agency created as a kind-of public-private partnership between the West Texas Municipal Power Agency and Republic Power Partners was taking off in an unexpected direction and leaving more than a few locals wondering what was going on. In brief, High Plains Diversified Energy Corporation, the …

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The City Council Puts Lubbock’s New Municipal Electric Monopoly to Use

Michael Giberson Are monopoly municipal electric utilities supposed to be treated like piggy banks by city councils?  For over 90 years Lubbock Texas has had two electric utilities serving the town – one regional state-regulated investor-owned utility (Xcel) and a municipal utility (LP&L). Both ran wires throughout the city and most customers could switch between the …

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The Revised History of Electric Competition in Lubbock

Michael Giberson At the time of the initial announcement that Lubbock Power & Light would acquire the distribution assets of competing electric utility Xcel within the city, leaving LP&L as a monopolist, I took note of several inconvenient statements about the benefits of competition included in official LP&L history.  (See “The (soon to be revised) …

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How Valuable Will a Monopoly Be to Lubbock Power & Light?

Michael Giberson After over 90 years of operating in competition with a rival electric utility in town, late last year Lubbock Power & Light and Xcel announced a deal in which municipal electric utility LP&L would buy out Xcel’s distribution assets and customer accounts in the city for $87 million, leaving LP&L as a monopoly …

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Local TV News Coverage of the Proposed End of 90+ Years of Electric Competition in Lubbock

Michael Giberson I was interested when one of the local news shows  ended their 6 o’clock news segment yesterday on the proposed purchase of Xcel’s Lubbock electric system by Lubbock Power & Light by saying, “Coming up tonight on NewsChannel 11 at ten we hear from an economist and teacher who tells us the other …

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The (soon to Be Revised) History of Electric Competition in Lubbock

Michael Giberson The city of Lubbock Texas has had two competing electric power companies since 1917.  If a just announced deal goes through, competition will be eliminated. The new “official story” is that competition produced inefficiency, but this view is in stark contrast to old “official story” as told in the “The History of Lubbock …

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Breaking News: Retail Power Competition To End In Lubbock After More Than 90 Years

Michael Giberson This morning, November 4, municipal utility Lubbock Power & Light and local regulated utility Xcel/Southwestern Public Service announced that the city utility will buy out the Xcel distribution system within the city and LP&L would become the monopoly retail power provider. The press conference hosted by the city emphasized the costliness of maintaining …

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