For many years Lubbock, Texas was the largest or among the largest cities with dual, competing electric utilities. If a consumer was unhappy with utility A, all it took was a phone call and about three days and the consumer would be hooked up to utility B. Standard economic theory suggests that such an arrangement …
Michael Giberson It is done.
Michael Giberson Last week the Lubbock city council approved a plan to direct municipal utility Lubbock Power and Light to pay the cost of operating and maintaining the city’s street lights (see earlier post). This week the municipal utility fights back: “LP&L ready to fight city on street light money.” The Lubbock Power and Light …
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 …
The City Council Puts Lubbock’s New Municipal Electric Monopoly to Use Read More »
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) …
The Revised History of Electric Competition in Lubbock Read More »
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 …
How Valuable Will a Monopoly Be to Lubbock Power & Light? Read More »
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 …
The (soon to Be Revised) History of Electric Competition in Lubbock Read More »
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 …
Breaking News: Retail Power Competition To End In Lubbock After More Than 90 Years Read More »
What is unusual about the retail electric power market in Lubbock? Is this regard is Lubbock a harbinger of the industry’s future or a relic of the industry’s past? Why?
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