Although electricity prices in Texas have decreased somewhat from a peak a few years back, they still remain higher than they were during the decade before deregulation. They also don’t compare so well to prices in neighboring states.
Consider, for example, the year-to-date electric pricing information from February 2011, which is the last month for which the federal government has relevant data. As has been consistently the case in the past, the data show that Texans pay more for electricity than residents of New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. And the differences are not small. Texans, for instance, pay nearly 35 percent more for electricity than what residents of Louisiana are paying. We also pay nearly 40 percent more than Arkansas residents.
Texas likewise lead neighboring states in percentage increases in electricity prices. Since 1999, the average cost of electricity for Texas residential consumers has gone up 45 percent. For residents of Arkansas and Louisiana, electric prices have gone up just 5.7 and 14.3 percent respectively.
What’s to explain these differences? Part of the problem is inefficiency in our state’s deregulated electricity market. Texans have suffered years of needlessly high prices under the system. This has sapped the consumer economy of billions of dollars. Research also has shown that Texans in deregulated areas consistently pay more for electricity than Texans living outside deregulation.
You can check out the data yourself at the United States Energy Information Administration. The most recent monthly pricing data can be found at http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html
Don’t know where your info is coming from, but here is the actual rate, I a Texan living in Mansfield Texas am now paying .085 fixed, effective rate .08640. My provider is Champion Energy out of Houston, TX.
There is a website run by the state of Texas which lists all electric providers in the state and their rates/plans. Champion is one of the better rate wise, but by no means the lowest. I think electric deregulation is great, and you would have to be some kind of knucklehead to be stuck paying the 10.95 this guy says is the Texas rate.
Thanks for sharing Mike. The 10.95 rate you reference is an average for all of Texas, as of February 2011. And it sounds like you’ve got a pretty good deal at 8.5. However, as far as I can tell, Champion’s current lowest-cost fixed-rate deal in the D/FW area still costs more than the last price we’ve seen for San Antonio, which is largest area of the state outside deregulation. Our only point in drawing attention to these price differentials is that we should do everything we can, from a policy perspective, to make the deregulated market work more efficiently. That way everyone saves.