- Jul 25, 2002
- 10,053
- 0
- 71
10% More Cost, but another 10% added to 'Low Income'
Effectively giving a 10% price hike for power . . accross the board, but
charging an 'extra' 10% to the lowest 120,000 who can least afford it.
Balance the books for the 'better off' on the backs of those who have too little to start with. Fair & balanced ?
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<CLIP>
Just days after state regulators approved a nearly 10 percent jump in Metroplex electric rates, Texas lawmakers effectively have voted to hike rates another 10 percent -- but this time, it's just some of the poorest Texans who will take the hit.
On a 6-4 vote last week, a key legislative committee elected to drain a special fund that provides electric discounts for about 370,000 low-income Texans. The panel instead directed the money to other uses in the state's two-year budget.
As a result, about 120,000 low-income TXU customers can expect to pay 10 percent more for electricity each month. That's on top of TXU's 9.9 percent rate increase approved May 11 by the Public Utility Commission.
The move by legislative budget writers has drawn fire from consumer advocates and some Democratic lawmakers, who say it breaks a promise of lower rates made under the state's 1999 electric deregulation law.
It also adds to the generally shabby treatment of low-income Texans by the 79th Legislature, said Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston. He noted that poor Texans also will end up paying more under current plans to overhaul the tax system.
"It's these low-income [people who] are the ones taking the hit," said Turner.
But Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said the money would be better used on other social services.
"The issue before us is how we cover the health and human services budget that has increased by 18 percent," Ogden said.
At issue is the roughly $200 million that flows each year into the System Benefit Fund, which was created as part of the electric deregulation law adopted in 1999. All electric customers pay into the fund through a fee on their bills of up to 65 cents a month.
The money is used to finance rate discounts for low-income Texans, pay for the weatherization of their homes and fund a mass-market education program about deregulation.
The fund once provided rate discounts of 17 percent for about 780,000 Texans. But lawmakers have raided the fund once already:In 2003, the Legislature redirected about $183 million to the state's general budget, an action that dropped the discount to 10 percent. It also halved the number of Texans eligible for the discount.
Turner had pushed legislation to completely restore the fund, arguing that lawmakers should not bamboozle ratepayers by charging them fees for electricity and then redirect the money to other purposes.
"We're taking their dollars for one purpose and using it for another," he said.
TXU also has expressed support for the System Benefit Fund, noting that the company has made a $15 million contribution to help its low-income customers.
"We recognize that electricity is a matter of life or death in Texas," company spokesman Chris Schein said earlier. "We support the System Benefit Fund and what it does -- and what it can do -- for those customers in need."
The vote this week to drain the fund was taken by a committee of House and Senate lawmakers considering the state's upcoming two-year budget. The four Democrats voted to maintain the rate discounts, and the six Republicans voted to use the money for the budget.
The panel has yet to give the final OK to the budget, which must go back to the full House and Senate before the legislative session ends May 30.
</clop>
Effectively giving a 10% price hike for power . . accross the board, but
charging an 'extra' 10% to the lowest 120,000 who can least afford it.
Balance the books for the 'better off' on the backs of those who have too little to start with. Fair & balanced ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<CLIP>
Just days after state regulators approved a nearly 10 percent jump in Metroplex electric rates, Texas lawmakers effectively have voted to hike rates another 10 percent -- but this time, it's just some of the poorest Texans who will take the hit.
On a 6-4 vote last week, a key legislative committee elected to drain a special fund that provides electric discounts for about 370,000 low-income Texans. The panel instead directed the money to other uses in the state's two-year budget.
As a result, about 120,000 low-income TXU customers can expect to pay 10 percent more for electricity each month. That's on top of TXU's 9.9 percent rate increase approved May 11 by the Public Utility Commission.
The move by legislative budget writers has drawn fire from consumer advocates and some Democratic lawmakers, who say it breaks a promise of lower rates made under the state's 1999 electric deregulation law.
It also adds to the generally shabby treatment of low-income Texans by the 79th Legislature, said Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston. He noted that poor Texans also will end up paying more under current plans to overhaul the tax system.
"It's these low-income [people who] are the ones taking the hit," said Turner.
But Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said the money would be better used on other social services.
"The issue before us is how we cover the health and human services budget that has increased by 18 percent," Ogden said.
At issue is the roughly $200 million that flows each year into the System Benefit Fund, which was created as part of the electric deregulation law adopted in 1999. All electric customers pay into the fund through a fee on their bills of up to 65 cents a month.
The money is used to finance rate discounts for low-income Texans, pay for the weatherization of their homes and fund a mass-market education program about deregulation.
The fund once provided rate discounts of 17 percent for about 780,000 Texans. But lawmakers have raided the fund once already:In 2003, the Legislature redirected about $183 million to the state's general budget, an action that dropped the discount to 10 percent. It also halved the number of Texans eligible for the discount.
Turner had pushed legislation to completely restore the fund, arguing that lawmakers should not bamboozle ratepayers by charging them fees for electricity and then redirect the money to other purposes.
"We're taking their dollars for one purpose and using it for another," he said.
TXU also has expressed support for the System Benefit Fund, noting that the company has made a $15 million contribution to help its low-income customers.
"We recognize that electricity is a matter of life or death in Texas," company spokesman Chris Schein said earlier. "We support the System Benefit Fund and what it does -- and what it can do -- for those customers in need."
The vote this week to drain the fund was taken by a committee of House and Senate lawmakers considering the state's upcoming two-year budget. The four Democrats voted to maintain the rate discounts, and the six Republicans voted to use the money for the budget.
The panel has yet to give the final OK to the budget, which must go back to the full House and Senate before the legislative session ends May 30.
</clop>
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