Talk of Waco

By Robbie

July 20, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this

I don’t know if you remember this or not, and I’m no electric grid guru either, but Governor Perry once thought it would be a good idea for Texans to produce more power for a record number of Texans living in Texas.

He may have been wrong about the laws of supply and demand, however most economists would tell you, the higher the demand (more people using electricity), and the lower the supply (the power produced by our current resources), the higher the price for that power would be.

In lock-step, the environmental lobby propogated the fear of a mythical toxic black cloud mercilessly choking poor people, minorities, and babies. From every newspaper in Texas, including this one, the environmetal lobby spread their fear of death by power plant. This paper’s own editorial board rallied against the Governor and his proposal to provide Texans a higher supply of cost-effective power under the guise of environmental doom and gloom.

TXU, a private company interested in delivering power to you, so believed in this project that they invested $10 Billion in 11 of these proposed power plants. Six of them were proposed to bring more power to the Waco area. They did this to win your business, by delivering power to you cheaper than the competition.

They also planned to reduce emmissions by 20% in an effort they called “voluntary.” That is, they are taking the initiative to do reduce emmissons upon themselves, without governmental influence and regulation. The market, by demanding cleaner energy, is convincing private companies to produce cleaner energy. The wonders of capitalism.

But the environmental lobby won’t tell you that. They conveniently leave this information out of their press releases. You can’t be scared of reduced emmissions. You must be fearful of death and the prospect of coughing. The only solution is for the government to step in. TCEQ must save the day.

Now two years after the proposed plants and nearly 2 years from when we were supposed to reap the full benefits (lower costs) of a plentiful power supply, it seems the environmental lobby and industrial regulators have got their way, at least as far as the Trib is concerned.

In short, deregulation worked. Deregulation opened up the prospect for power companies to seek to increase the supply of power to Texans through the construction of new power plants, updating the old ones, and producing power through various alternatives throughout the state. Texas leads the nation in wind power.

Environmentalists and energy regulators have amassed a highly effective campaign based in environmental doom and gloom that have prolonged Texans receiving plentiful power at lower rates.

Our wallets are now forcing us to realize how important this plentiful supply of power is.

By TJ Ermoian

July 22, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this

Carlos,

I am not a lobbyist and we don’t share any memories of college hijinks to forget. You have chosen the higher career path over your friend while forsaking his income and the perks of traveling with TXU executives.

I am a licensed electricity aggregator. It is my job to help consumers understand and benefit from deregulation. My office is headquartered just a few blocks from yours in Waco and I serve primarily commercial clients. My clients saved nearly 9 million dollars last year, just in McLennan County as compared to TXU’s rates. Many of them are paying in the range of 6-8 cents per kWh while others are still paying 16-20 cents per kWh, while doing nothing but wringing their hands and complaining. I pay 11.5 cents kWh in my home. I write the Trib often, but most of my constructive advice has gone unnoticed.

Electricity is an enigma and a paradigm; we all use it and nobody understands it. Most all of us know what we paid per gallon for the last tank of gas we put in our car. We know what kind of gas mileage we get and likely how many miles per week we drive. Why is it that only one in ten knows what they pay per kWh each month and how many kWh we use? I can explain things simply where people can understand them. It is irresponsible for us to pretend that this is all above our understanding. We no longer have a choice.

I am sorry that you did not understand the deregulation mysteries explained to you likely by TXU. You are a smart guy. They spend millions each year to intentionally confuse people. Knowledge is power, and armed with knowledge you would be able to make a clear choice. I spend my days talking with people in ways that they can understand the basics and take advantage of the opportunities. I would be more than happy to offer you my time and help so that you can help educate consumers, as they are getting hit hard by energy increase at the pump and at the switch.

The simplest answer to what happened - you don’t blame the convenience store owner for the cost of gasoline. Texas made a smart move in 1995 by deregulating wholesale power generation. Indpendent generators built 60 new plants before 2000 without consumers having to foot the bill. All of these were natural gas fired plants - highly efficient, clean, and reasonably cheap to build and operate. Natural gas had hovered around $2-$3 per btu for the last 50 years and Texas has a lot of it. Natural gas, a globally-traded commodity has skyrocketed to over $12 btu over the last 6 years. The reason why is another story, that I have sent to your editors more than a year ago, and the scandalous answer to that story is just now getting traction.

I would be happy to talk more, as you are in a position of power to reach many people with a message that can impact them and save them a lot of money with a little knowledge.

TJ Ermoian President Texas Energy Aggregation 254-751-0364