texas

[Azazello1313]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-...rL_story_1.html

 

Currently, only 15 states in the U.S., as well as the District of Columbia, provide any form of retail choice. Of those 15 states, Texas, the largest electricity market in the country, is the most freewheeling. Well over half of all customers in Texas are eligible to switch electricity providers, which is about 6.6 million. By May 2011, approximately 60 percent of such competitive-choice customers — nearly 4 million — had done so. Texas went a step further by instituting a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) — a law to boost renewable energy production. The initial RPS mandate of 1999 — to generate 2,000 MW of new renewable energy by 2009 — was achieved in 2005, when the state increased its total renewable capacity goals to 5,880 megawatts by 2015, and to 10,000 megawatts by 2025. After the RPS was implemented, Texas wind corporations and utilities, according to the state government, invested around $1 billion in wind power. Companies, such as Green Mountain Energy, that directly sell clean energy to consumers have started to emerge.

 

Deregulation has also encouraged the widespread deployment of smart-grid technologies, such as smart meters, which are electronic versions of spinning meters, according to documentation from the European Union. However, smart meters raise concerns about consumer privacy. They have been deployed in mass quantities in Italy and Pennsylvania, and have resulted in a more accurate measurement of electricity usage, as well as an increasingly efficient management of energy production resources.

 

A potential downside to deregulation is the effect on consumer rates. But deregulation does not guarantee an unfettered free-for-all. While electricity providers will be free to offer whatever rates they choose, they will be forced to operate in a competitive environment, and unfair practices would continue to be monitored by state public utility commissions

 

Residential electricity rates in Texas were higher than the national average for many years after deregulation was initiated, in part because of Texas’s over-reliance on natural gas, which was very expensive at the time. After prices peaked in 2008, residential electricity rates in Texas have trended downward, and are today at 11.28 cents/kWh, below the national average of 11.58 cents/kWh.

[Ursa Majoris]

And your point is..........?

[WaterMan]

I think the point is that Texas has so many people in poverty, the state needs all the government trickle down they can green out before anyone finds out where the money is really going.

Edited October 20, 2011 by WaterMan

[Square]

Dang it, my commie utility has been charging us 5.5 cents per kWH (blended rate).

[moneymakers]

Long Live President Perry

 

Too soon

[evil_gop_liars]

Dang it, my commie utility has been charging us 5.5 cents per kWH (blended rate).

 

I don't have a choice, I guess I'll just pay have to pay 2.99 cents per kWh

[Azazello1313]

And your point is..........?

 

the linked article pretty well makes its own point, but if you'd like a more concise take:

 

Sharan’s article is not the last word on energy policy, but it bears out an important theme: conventional green policy — corporatist, statist, Malthusian, deeply compromised by cheesy alliances with special interests — has lost its way. The movement is not worthy of the cause.

[Ursa Majoris]

the linked article pretty well makes its own point, but if you'd like a more concise take:

What part of it would you like me to disagree with? I would hate to spoil your stereotyping.

[Azazello1313]

What part of it would you like me to disagree with? I would hate to spoil your stereotyping.

 

you crusty old bassturd, who said I want you to disagree with anything? believe it or not, if I post something that I find to be a compelling argument, if anything the goal is to get you and others to agree with it, not disagree.

[Square]

if anything the goal is to get you and others to agree with it, not disagree.

[citation needed]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Clubfoothead]

Thanks that that corporate $hit f*ck a$$hole Rick Perry the EPA had to take over the issuance of greenhouse gas permits in Texas in 2010. Taking scumbags like Rick Perry out of the equasion certainly has benefitted Texas air quality. The TCEQ requested a budget of $882.6 million just to maintain current programs. Rick Perry's mismanagement of Texas tax money has resulted inthat budget being slashed to $552 million.

 

Enen the scientists who were hired by Rick Perry know he's full of crap:

 

Officials in Rick Perry's home state of Texas have set off a scientists' revolt after purging mentions of climate change and sea-level rise from what was supposed to be a landmark environmental report. The scientists said they were disowning the report on the state of Galveston Bay because of political interference and censorship from Perry appointees at the state's environmental agency.

 

By academic standards, the protest amounts to the beginnings of a rebellion: every single scientist associated with the 200-page report has demanded their names be struck from the document. "None of us can be party to scientific censorship so we would all have our names removed," said Jim Lester, a co-author of the report and vice-president of the Houston Advanced Research Centre.

 

"To me it is simply a question of maintaining scientific credibility. This is simply antithetical to what a scientist does," Lester said. "We can't be censored." Scientists see Texas as at high risk because of climate change, from the increased exposure to hurricanes and extreme weather on its long coastline to this summer's season of wildfires and drought.

 

If Rick Perry says it, you should probably take it with a grain of salt.

[Perchoutofwater]

Thanks that that corporate $hit f*ck a$$hole Rick Perry the EPA had to take over the issuance of greenhouse gas permits in Texas in 2010. Taking scumbags like Rick Perry out of the equasion certainly has benefitted Texas air quality. The TCEQ requested a budget of $882.6 million just to maintain current programs. Rick Perry's mismanagement of Texas tax money has resulted inthat budget being slashed to $552 million.

 

Enen the scientists who were hired by Rick Perry know he's full of crap:

 

 

 

If Rick Perry says it, you should probably take it with a grain of salt.

 

I'm not a fan of Perry by any means, but your EPA, TCEQ argument shows how little you know about the TCEQ and EPA guidelines. The reason the EPA took over in 2010 was because of a power grab by Obama and the federal government. In my previous business I had to deal with the TECQ quite a bit, and I assure you in almost all cases their standards exceeded those of the EPA. Those of us affected were very glad to see the EPA and the lesser standards take affect.

 

Bushwanker and I had a discussion about this a while back and I believe he agreed with me and cited several other states with stricter standards than the EPA.