Here’s a bit more bad news about prices under the state’s flawed deregulated system. According to recent figures from the Public Utility Commission web site, residents in the state”s largest city under deregulation (Houston) continue paying far more for electricity than residents living in the largest city outside deregulation (San Antonio).
Specifically, the PUC figures show that as of December 2009 (the latest data available) a home consumer in San Antonio would spend $77.38 for 1,000 KW/H of power. A consumer using the exact same amount of juice in Houston — even a consumer with the very lowest rate available — would spend $86, or more than 11.1 percent more. And, of course, most rates in Houston are far higher.
Likewise, a recent survey from a commercial website, Whitefence.com, lists Houston as having the one of the highest electricity prices among the cities it surveyed in the entire nation.
Many proponents of the flawed deregulated system continue making apples-to-oranges comparisons between lowest-cost offers under deregulation and average rates outside deregulation. But as these figures show, even those comparisons often don”t hold water.