Some Texans Overpaying for Electricity
Some Texans may be paying too much for their electricity because they are unaware of lower rates. Photo by Dave Fehling.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Texans who live in larger cities need to be very careful about how they buy their electricity, because they may be paying too much. StateImpact reporter Dave Fehling has been looking into prices that have been kept secret.
In a competitive market, you might assume the companies with the lowest prices would sell the most electricity. But just the opposite appears to be the case.
Data from Texas electric retailers reported to the Federal government show an average of all rates offered by the state’s 50 electricity retailers.
In Texas, only a couple hundred thousand consumers were buying electricity from companies that offered the lowest rates.
By contrast, several million customers were buying from companies — mostly TXU and Reliant — that were charging among the highest rates.
The difference would mean an average monthly bill of about 70 dollars for the lower rate compared to 120 dollars for the higher.
Electricity industry spokesman John Fainter was quick to question the government data.
“There’s a whole lot of ….argument in the industry about how they calculate their rates,” Fainter said.
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