Bay Area Houston

Just remember who did this to you.

You might have noticed your electricity bill was about 20% higher. I didn’t until the Houston Chronicle posted an article about it. Turns out my bill was higher than I expected. I expected about $120 for the month of Aug. (I have solar panels) Instead it was about $148. What happened?

I actually used about the same kWh than the previous month but this bill had a TDU Surcharge of $21.74. According to the Chronicle:

This charge, also known as the transmission and distribution utility or TDU charge, is paid to companies like CenterPoint that manage the power lines, poles and meters that deliver electricity from generators to homes and businesses. 

If you want to try to understand why you are getting screwed go read the article. For those of you who weren’t around in the late 1990’s here is a recap of how we got here. Prior to 2003 Houston Light and Power provided our electricity. It was a regulated market. We paid just under 8 cents/kWh and had long term contracts which started the day you signed the contract and ended the day you cancelled. It was easy, cheap, and reliable.

Then Ken Lay and Enron lobbied the State for deregulation with promises of lower rates, consumer choice, reliable, free market electricity. LOL. (Key Lay died as did Enron) The rest is history. Now contracts are short term. Contracts are so complicated even the Public Utilities Commissioner agreed. Contracts are expensive! Deregulation failed so miserably the east Texas Senator filed a bill to stop deregulation in his area due to the failed promises. That bill passed.

So there you have it. You are getting screwed. Enjoy.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 27th, 2023 at 7:31 am and is filed under Consumer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.