Bend Over Texans -- Full Deregulation Is Near

I'd warn you to grab your wallets and hang on tight, but that won't do any good. You might as well just bend over, because you're fixing to get screwed and there's nothing you can do about it. On January 1st, the electric producers in Texas will be fully deregulated.

That means they will no longer have to get approval of the Public Utilities Commission to raise your electric rates. We already have some of the highest electric rates in the nation, and that's with the companies having to get approval from the PUC. What do you think will happen now that they can charge whatever they want without asking anyone for permission?

I still can't believe the dunderheads in our Texas legislature actually thought deregulation would bring lower prices. Here in North Texas, TXU has a virtual monopoly in electric production. That means they can keep the wholesale price of electricity abnormally high for it's competitors.

Since the competitors must buy their electricity from TXU and resell it to consumers, this gives TXU not only a monopoly in electric production, but also a monopoly in the sale of electricity. All our mentally-challenged legislators have done is give a monopoly the right to set it's own prices. And it's pretty much the same in other parts of Texas.

I know there are some legislators making noise about doing something about our high electric rates, but you'd be making a mistake to hold your breath waiting for this to happen. For one thing, legislators have already said that re-regulation is "off-the-table". For another, electric companies will flood Austin with more lobbyists than there are legislators. If you really think our brain-dead legislators will bring down electric rates, I've got a few bridges I'll sell you real cheap.

Anything as important to modern life as electricity should be controlled, if not actually owned, by the government. Yes, I know that is a socialistic idea. But it is also the only way to keep electric rates down to reasonable levels. The only alternative is to allow a monopoly to charge whatever it wants.

TXU made over a billion dollars in profit last year. Just imagine what that profit figure is going to be for 2007!

So bend over and grab your ankles Texans -- I doubt if they'll even bother to break out the lube.