experiment is meant to smooth any technical kinks before Jan. 1, when the
state's investor-owned power monopolies are to be dismantled.
But if July 31 "comes along and we're still not ready, we'll go ahead and delay
it again," Jennifer Taylor said. Taylor is a spokeswoman for the Electric
Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, the agency charged with running the
state's power grid.
"None of these things are easy," ERCOT chief Tom Noel said. "They're very
complex."
Customers are nonplused.
"It doesn't inspire a lot of trust when it's messy before it even gets started,"
said Karen Higgins, 37, a Houston bank manager. "I won't make a move until
everything is straightened out."
That sentiment is common among residents: Despite prodding from radio and
television spots, households have greeted their newfound commercial freedom with
a collective shrug. The state hoped to test 247,000 households, but only a third
of those have signed on to the experiment.
The indifference is, in part, chalked up to inertia. Most people can't be
bothered to slog through complicated paperwork or listen while telemarketers
promise to shave a few bucks off the electric bill.
And then there's California: The specter of the West Coast's woes--the images of
darkened classrooms and household despair--haunt Texas' move into deregulation.
"They want us to go through the same mess here?" asked Lekeya Rowe, a
24-year-old aide in a Houston nursing home. "I wouldn't trust it. It's too hot
here not to have electricity."
The state has tried to soften the worries: ERCOT's Web site features a short
essay entitled "Texas is not California!!!" and a "Top Ten List: Texas vs.
California."
"Texas," the Web site reads, "has learned from the experiences of others."
In a state where air-conditioning is a way of life and widespread manufacturing
and technology gobble up power, electric bills are serious stuff. And Texas has
remained impervious to the woes plaguing other parts of the country. Texans in
recent years have paid roughly 12% below the national average for each
kilowatt-hour they use.
Austin lawmakers voted in 1999 to deregulate the electric market, joining the 20
other states that had opened power sales up to competition. It was a heady time:
Lawmakers and then-Gov. George W. Bush predicted plummeting electric bills.
"I believe it's going to reduce rates and increase competition," Bush told
reporters before signing the bill into law. "And I know it's going to be good
for clean air."
With a stroke of Bush's pen, electric rates were frozen. Lawmakers ordered rates
to hold steady for two years, then drop by 6% once deregulation kicks in.
But thanks to sky-high costs of natural gas, households expecting a 6% drop on
their January bills could be in for a nasty surprise. The decrease will be
adjusted for fuel costs, so household bills could still be steeper than they are
now.