God bless Texas deregulation.

S

speedracer

Banned
Last night a Democratic candidate for Texas Governor made an unbelievable statement. He said electricity prices have gone up, in real terms *and* in relation to the rest of the country (including neighbors we export power to) since the electricity market deregulation which began in 2002. He also said our prices have gone up faster than any other state with a deregulated market and asked how that could be when so much energy is produced in Texas.

Turns out that it's 100% factually true. How could this be?

Discuss.
 
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Obviously any bullshit that republicans tell you about deregulation is false. Corporations are full of people who can easily become corrupt. Deregulating corporations is akin to getting rid of police.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']how many different energy company's service texas? Deregulation doesn't really do any good without healthy competition.[/quote]
Sixty. Six Zero. 60.
 
[quote name='speedracer']Sixty. Six Zero. 60.[/QUOTE]

And they're all corrupt, just like 99% of all other companies in existence anywhere.
 
Ahhh Enron. So expensive but so instructive.

Just cut 'em off. They're so fucked. They should just bring back fucking horses and carriages, fucking lamps, fucking kerosene lamps.
- Enron trader

...

Enron Employee 1: "All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?
Enron Employee 2: "Yeah, Grandma Millie man.
Enron Employee 1: "Yeah, now she wants her fucking money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her ass for fucking $250 a megawatt hour."
Click to expand...

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/02/eveningnews/main620795.shtml
 
It doesn't surprise me. I live in an area in Texas that opted out of deregulation (co-op serviced area), and I think we pay less for power than most all of the deregulated areas.
 
I wish I had a choice when it comes to utilities. I'm kind of tired of one gas, one electricity, one land based cable company that we have going on over here.
 
[quote name='depascal22']I wish I had a choice when it comes to utilities. I'm kind of tired of one gas, one electricity, one land based cable company that we have going on over here.[/QUOTE]

You do. Buy more efficient appliances and fund construction of solar farms and wind turbines.

There is a lot of flat and empty area between Jeffersonville and Greenburg.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']You do. Buy more efficient appliances and fund construction of solar farms and wind turbines.

There is a lot of flat and empty area between Jeffersonville and Greenburg.[/QUOTE]

I'm in Greenwood. Which is basically South Indianapolis and not very conducive to wind farms.
 
[quote name='depascal22']I'm in Greenwood. Which is basically South Indianapolis and not very conducive to wind farms.[/QUOTE]

Are you about 20 or 40 miles away from nothing?
 
Hmmm... now, let's see. How do they make electricity again? What are the costs of machinery, fuel, property taxes, mortgages and interest, and, no doubt, unionized workforce involved in making electricity again? Let me ponder that for a few moments while I recall some politicians recent mumblings. I may digress off topic here, but bear with me...

The Stimulus is working.
The stimulus prevented us from eclipsing the great depression.
we would have been much worse off if it weren't for the stimulus.
Unemployment still went up, but not as much as it would have if the stimulus hadn't passed....


Sorry, I was thinking of a parallel to the price of electricity. That perhaps it would have increased many fold had deregulation not been passed. At least, that's what the argument would have been had Democrats been the passer people of said deregulation. Mmmmm, can Texans use that same argument?

Yes, yes they can. It takes a lot of diesel fuel to mine coal or process natural gas and make electricity. I don't think fuel prices, or the cost of anything has gone up in the last 10 years, though. I could be wrong.

There's also factors we probably don't hear about. Sometimes utility companies that are controlled monopolies operate under a tax abatement. When legislatures sell "deregulation" to voters, what they don't tell them is that now all your utility carriers will be paying the taxes on product the old monopoly wasn't required to pay. Then the governments gets to keep all that new monies. Only the company doesn't really pay taxes - you do. And it shows up in your next bill as a universal-service-reclamation property-distrubution-service charge. And then they get the state sales tax on top of it too.

Remember, DE-regulation doesn't mean UN-regulation. It's just taking apart a structure and putting it back together a different way. It sure sounds good on TV, though.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']Are you about 20 or 40 miles away from nothing?[/QUOTE]

I am. Unfortunately, all of the wind farms are going up north of Indy. The southern half of the state (excluding Bloomington) continues to lean very heavily to the "If it ain't coal or gas, it doesn't exist" mentality.
 
[quote name='depascal22']I am. Unfortunately, all of the wind farms are going up north of Indy. The southern half of the state (excluding Bloomington) continues to lean very heavily to the "If it ain't coal or gas, it doesn't exist" mentality.[/QUOTE]

They can't stop you from buying a few acres and building your own. Of course, you would then have to find a buyer for the power you produce or choose to live in the middle of BFE.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']They can't stop you from buying a few acres and building your own. Of course, you would then have to find a buyer for the power you produce or choose to live in the middle of BFE.[/QUOTE]

Too bad I have a career that ties me down to hospitals that are big enough to have operating rooms. Columbus was attractive until the flood wiped out the hospital.
 
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