Deregulation of Texas electric market has led to fewer customer complaints

Fuel Fix:

Texas electricity complaints last year hit their lowest level since the state deregulated its retail electricity market 16 years ago, demonstrating that complaints have fallen in sync with cheaper power prices, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The numbers of complaints reached new, post-deregulation lows each of the past three years, but the grievances still remain higher than before Texas ended regional utility monopolies. The broken-up parts of the old Houston Lighting & Power are now owned by CenterPoint Energy and NRG Energy, and there are hundreds of retail electricity competitors from which to choose.

In its yearly review each fall, the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power report said customers filed 4,175 complaints with the state Public Utilities Commission, which oversees the electric industry, down from 4,835 last year and a record 17,250 in 2003.

However, the highest number of complaints before deregulation was 2,062 in 2001, the last year before the overhaul.

Electricity prices were high in 2008 and 2009, but the shale boom has produced more cheap and ample natural gas ever since, allowing companies to produce affordable power and switch from a greater reliance on coal power to more electricity generated from gas-fired power plants and wind farms.

"The falling number of complaints may be explained, in part, by corresponding drops in residential electric prices since 2009," the report concludes. "Texans also have become more familiar with the state's competitive retail electricity system. This likely also has contributed to a drop in complaints since 2002."
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I think there is another reason for fewer complaints.  Now that consumers have choices of who will provide their electricity, there is greater incentive for companies to resolve problems quickly.  Competition usually leads to better service and better pricing for consumers.   Texas consumers pay a much lower amount for their electric service than to California consumers who are stuck with an over regulated marketplace and a push for inefficient alternative energy.