Another Texas power company in danger of shutting down
By R.A. Dyer | Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH — The fourth Texas electric company in two weeks is showing signs of failing in what is a growing crisis in the state with one of the nation's most deregulated retail electricity markets, officials said Thursday.
The company, Houston-based Riverway Power, has filed for bankruptcy, according to the Public Utility Commission. Operators of the Texas power grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, were preparing to shift its customers to the high-cost default electric company, but then stopped that process after Riverway came under the court’s bankruptcy protection.
In the past two weeks, three other companies have failed to meet financial obligations to the grid operator and so have had their customers switched to high-cost default providers. Those companies include Bridgeport-based PreBuy Electric, Houston-based National Power and Denton-based Hwy 3 MHP, which also does business as Etricity.
As a result, more than 35,000 customers have been switched to high-cost default providers or other electric companies. Some customers who get switched to a high-cost default provider could see their costs double.
Of course, what's really needed here is more deregulation. Shouldn't individual Texans be personally responsible for producing their own electricity? I thought Texans were all about "personal responsibility"
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