Editor’s Note: The following is the second in a three-part series by the Energy Alliance, a project of the Texas Business Coalition, examining how the Public Utility Commission of Texas has violated consumer choice and market forces in the Texas electric market. Yesterday’s post, Storm Uri: The PUCT’s $26 billion Electricity Tax.
On January 30, the Texas Supreme Court will hold a hearing to determine whether the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) violated the Texas Legislature’s instructions that “electric services and their prices should be determined by customer choices and the normal forces of competition” when it arbitrarily set the price of electricity at $9,000 per megawatt hour during Winter Storm Uri. The Texas Third Court of Appeals has already determined the PUC’s action to be illegal.…
Continue ReadingEditor’s Note: The following is the first part in a three-part series by the Energy Alliance, a project of the Texas Business Coalition, examining how the Public Utility Commission of Texas has violated consumer choice and market forces in the Texas electric market. MasterResource presents this analysis as an example of the perils of central planning and government monopoly.
On January 30, the Texas Supreme Court will hear arguments to determine the legality of a 2021 Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) rule that effectively imposed a $26 billion monopoly tax on buyers of electricity during Winter Storm Uri. The lawsuit to overturn the PUC’s decision was filed by electricity generator Luminant and others who lost money because of the PUC’s decision. [1] The Texas Third Court of Appeals found in favor of Luminant, ruling last year that the PUC’s price-setting rule was illegal.…
Continue Reading“Cooke as EV apologist is tied to an economic lemon. Hunkering down in a hole of unreality is not very impressive. But this is the Industrial Climate Complex in action, a data point for a movement that is power-driven, not intellectually curious. And anti-environmental to boot.” (RLB)
Yes, defending electric cars and trucks is pretty hard, with the national media simply reporting that consumers do not like to own or rent battery vehicles, and Mother Nature presenting freeze issues regarding battery performance.
This situation was magnified by a recent snub to a polite invitation to an EV proponent from Benjamin Zycher, senior fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, to discuss the pros and cons of EVs at a virtual AEI event. Zycher emailed Dave Cooke, senior vehicles analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists asking him to participate.…
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