Electricity bill is dead
The bill that would have lowered electricity rates for some Texans is dead, killed today on a technicality.
The point of order came from a Democrat, Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, yesterday.
The decision sustaining the technicality means lawmakers will have done nothing on the biggest pocketbook issue facing them this session. In addition to cutting some consumers' rates by 15 percent, the bill would have boned up consumer protections and reinstated a discount for the poor.
Lawmakers also will have done nothing to prevent TXU from manipulating the electricity market. Early versions of the bill would have broken the company up into three companies. The compromise bill killed Sunday provided for stiff multimillion-dollar penalties and criminal sanctions for coordination among the separated units.
It's a big victory for TXU and the companies working to buy the power giant and had hired dozens of lobbyists to fight off the proposals.
Said Phil King, the Weatherford Republican who sponsored the bill: "It's a shame and it's sad that it's lost, and our consumers will pay the price for that for the next couple of years. And I can assure you that the people who will not be paying the price ... are the electric companies."