Consumers are enjoying lower electricity prices because of the plunge in the price of natural gas often used to generate it.State regulators, however, are contemplating new rules that could send consumer retail prices up again.The Public Utility Commission of Texas is considering raising the cap on the price at which generators can offer to sell electricity on the wholesale market, as an incentive for them to build more plants.Regulators hope that increased capacity would help avoid strains in the event of severe weather such as the freezes of February 2011 and last summer's heat wave."You have to have enough revenue to maintain a supply," said John Dumas, director of wholesale markets operations at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state's electric grid operator. "That ... Continue reading →
The state's largest property insurer is suing the Texas Attorney General's Office to block an investigation into its recent decision to stop renewing about 11,300 policies along the Gulf Coast.State Farm Lloyds of Texas, which insures about 1.76 million property owners statewide, notified the Texas Department of Insurance in December that it would not renew thousands of policies in Orange, Jefferson, Chambers, Brazoria and Galveston counties starting May 1.The Attorney General's office opened an investigation last month to determine if the company engaged in deceptive practices and misled consumers when notifying property owners about the nonrenewals, said spokesman Thomas Kelly.The office sent a civil subpoena to State Farm on April 16 for information about its decision. Late last week, State Farm filed a lawsuit claiming ... Continue reading →
