Issues

During the 80th Legislature, legislators provided $200 million to the Texas Public Utility Commission for funding a discount for low-income customers called the System Benefit Fund. Of the $200 million, $30 million was made available for use this summer. The 1999 Texas Electric Choice Act established the System Benefit Fund (SBF) to assist low-income customers with their electric bills.

The proposals presented this session by State Representative Phil King, and approved by several recorded votes, would have helped further address concerns about electric rates by requiring incumbent electric utility providers to lower rates for customers. This discount, which would have provided a 10 percent discount for millions of Texas electric consumers, was killed by Democrat leader Jim Dunnam, who used a legislative parliamentary maneuver to defeat the bill.

In response to efforts and requests of Republican leaders, TXU Energy, Reliant Energy, First Choice Power and Direct Energy implemented price reductions of up to 10% in the summer of 2007 for customers harmed by the defeat of Chairman King's bill. TXU Energy has offered to increase the discount to 15% when the merger with KKR and Texas Pacific Group closes. The PUC will continue to post retail electric prices on its website so customers can compare prices and service plans within their service area. (www.powertochoose.org). Over 3.5 million residential customers have taken advantage of competitive products that have lower prices.