Shutdown of Texas Utility Watchdog Will Hurt Consumers, Some Fear

- Texas should abolish the Office of the Public Utility Counsel, which represents consumers on electricity and telecommunications issues, a state panel said recently.

The staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission, which reviews the need for state commissions, said Texas no longer needs the office and its work should be divided between the Public Utility Commission and the attorney general.

But the Utility Counsel office and consumer advocates said the proposed move would eliminate an important and independent consumer voice in Austin.

"The most objective representation of residential and small commercial customers will come from an agency whose staff are not dependent on the [PUC] commissioners to be hired and fired," said Clarence Johnson, director of regulatory analysis at the Utility Counsel office.

The Utility Counsel was created in 1983 because of fears that consumers' concerns were getting lost in utility proceedings. The office has an annual budget of $1.6 million and a staff of 23. Eliminating the office and shifting its work elsewhere would save the state $1 million annually beginning in 2007.

"While residential consumers may still need independent representation in the declining number of rate cases, a stronger consumer focus at PUC could be more beneficial to Texas consumers than the current adversarial role of OPUC," the report said.

The 12-member Sunset Commission will hold hearings July 13-14 on a number of proposals in the report, which also reviewed the Public Utility Commission, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board. The panel will issue recommendations to the Legislature in September.

The report also recommended:

-- Requiring the Public Utility Commission to hire a firm to monitor manipulations of wholesale electricity markets.

-- Increasing the penalties the PUC can levy to $25,000 per day, per violation, up from $5,000.

-- Replacing the Reliability Council's 14-member board with a panel of nine independent members who would be subject to the state open meetings law.