retail competition

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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Is Consumer Protection Lacking in Texas Retail Electric Power Market?

Michael Giberson The Dallas Morning News has published an in-depth story detailing the apparent lack of effort put into consumer protection issues in the restructured retail power market in Texas. The story focuses on the prepaid end of the business, which mostly services customers lacking established credit and unable to post a deposit.  Rates tend …

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Volatile Prices Decrease Consumer Satisfaction with Texas Competitive Retail Suppliers

Michael Giberson From a press release by J.D. Power and Associates: Wide fluctuations in electricity prices during the past year have led to a decrease in overall customer satisfaction with residential retail electric providers in Texas, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Texas Residential Retail Electric Provider Customer Satisfaction Study released today. The study, …

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Home Energy Management and Home Security Product Bundling

Lynne Kiesling In a Cnet Green Tech article, Martin LaMonica points to some developments in an area that I’ve been pushing on for years: the potential consumer value creation from bundling residential electricity service with home security services. The potential for such bundling is one example of why I argue so emphatically for retail competition: …

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