More information and research is needed
The Texas Consumers Association (TCA) is calling on the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and state legislators to delay all transmission and distribution system resiliency plan cost-increase proceedings before the Commission until state agency investigations and CenterPoint’s internal reviews are complete. This will also allow sufficient time to fully review all cases in which companies are requesting approval of resiliency plans.
The PUC should also delay all settlement negotiations on existing CenterPoint rate cases until the agency’s investigation is complete. It is important that the Commission not automatically approve past actions only to learn from investigations that there were better, more efficient uses for taxpayer dollars.
In his July 14 letter to PUC Chairman Thomas Gleeson, Gov. Greg Abbott said he was “directing the (PUC) to undertake a rigorous study to determine the causes of repeated and ongoing power outages in the Houston metropolitan area following severe weather events. Some questions that need to be answered include: Is the cause of the magnitude and duration of customer power outages the result of physical infrastructure or staffing issues? What was the utility’s pre-event planning process? Why exactly were so many Texans without power for so many days? When and for what purposes did utilities use their mobile generating resources?”
TCA President Sandra Haverlah agrees that these are important questions. More importantly, CenterPoint’s answers to these questions could impact all plans submitted by electric distribution companies across the state, whether their challenge is wildfires, hurricanes, or high winds. Therefore, it would be prudent to wait for the research to be completed to determine whether the submitted plans take into account CenterPoint’s real-time experience and research findings.
CenterPoint currently has two cases pending before the PUC that would significantly increase customer rates. Since one of the rate cases was filed based on CenterPoint’s prior processes that proved ineffective during Hurricane Beryl, approving any rate increase based on those business practices and investments would be unwise. TCA believes it is best to delay all of CenterPoint’s existing cases, as well as all proposed investments in the delivery of electricity, until a thorough investigation is completed.
Haverlah said, “Customers pay for services that they expect reliability to be. Depending on where they live, they think they are paying for hurricane protection, wildfire prevention, or a hardened system for high winds. It should be transparent what work was performed, and the level of measurable reliability customers can expect should be clearly communicated. Customers and the PUC should have a clearly defined way to measure utility companies’ success or failure at their ‘one job’ – keeping the power on. Customers deserve to know where their money is going and whether it was well spent. We don’t have that right now. Based on CenterPoint’s current performance, there is no reason to believe that the money customers paid over the past 25 years was spent on improving reliability or storm response.”
Haverlah said that before approving any plan, it is important to note that lawmakers can set new standards as part of the process that will affect all electric distribution companies, so approval of any proposed plan should also be paused, at least during the legislative session.
“If lawmakers and the PUC decide there should be new rules, it could dramatically affect electric utilities’ plans. The PUC should only approve plans with the most recent information available, which will come from the Commission and future legislative research,” he said. “Customers should not be paying for services that the legislature will change in nine months.”
Given the uncertainty of the legislative session, any rate increases approved by the PUC before the end of the session may be challenged. Delaying any existing proceedings is prudent for both customers and investors.
The Texas Consumers Association is a nonprofit organization that has been representing individual consumers and small businesses on economic issues for more than 50 years. Find the TCA at https://www.texasconsumer.org.
