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February 16, 2001

Sibley:
Texas deregulation bill sound

By Lana Robinson
Field Editor

Severe power shortages in the state of California coupled with rising energy costs this winter have many Texans concerned about the impacts of deregulation when it is implemented in the Lone Star state. Not to worry, according to state Senator David Sibley (R-Waco), author of the legislation that will result in choice of electrical providers for consumers beginning Jan. 1, 2002.

During the annual Leadership Conference of the Texas Farm Bureau in Austin late last month, Sibley offered assurances that the Texas deregulation plan is sound.

"If there is one thing I want you to take home with you today it's this: We are not California. We did it differently," Sibley said, predicting better results for the Texas plan.

Sibley said he and other Texas lawmakers involved in crafting the legislation visited California and were disconcerted with what they found.

"On the way back, I said, `If that's electrical deregulation, I don't want any part of it.' I came back very satisfied to leave it alone. Then we visited Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. We even took a trip to England. The conclusion we came to was that those of you in a regulated system, where we're telling TXU or Reliant Energy how much they can charge and that no matter how bad an investment they make, we're still going to give them a 10 percent rate of return on their investment. Consumers are the ones who bear the risk of loss," the senator explained. "We wrote our law so that the person generating the electricity bears the risk of loss."

Sibley further noted that the transmission lines from the plant to distribution lines and wires coming into homes will not be deregulated, in order to ensure that lines, when down, are quickly restored and service is uninterrupted.

"I want you to know. I've looked at this right side up and upside down. I am confident in our plan. We have people from all over the country calling. It is being called the model legislation for the U.S. We will hold hearings on it in this session. I'm proud of it," he said.

Sibley emphasized that the plan he helped draft does not compel rural electric cooperatives to come into the system.

"It leaves lots of freedom to the people who have historically served the state in rural areas," he said.