Dunnam: Texas Pays the Electric Piper

Friday, August 1st, 2008
by TXProgress

State Rep. Jim Dunnam has penned an op-ed in the Waco Tribune-Herald that throws down the gauntlet on Texas’ out-of-control electric rates.

The piece details how the current legislative leadership derailed efforts to curb rates last session.

“The system is working the way it is supposed to work,” State Rep. Phil King told the Journal. Six years ago, Speaker Tom Craddick appointed King chair of the House committee overseeing the Texas electric industry. Since then, they kept promising lower rates, and have just as consistently not delivered on those promises.

Skyrocketing fuel prices and a record-breaking heat wave are causing the electric bills of many Texans to more than double this summer. Voters are already unhappy with the current leadership, and the indifference to their economic emergencies from people like Phil King is contributing to a “throw the bums out” anger that may lead to the highest legislative turnover the state’s seen in some time.

If voters turn up the heat on legislators who have turned up their bills, it could be a history-making year in ways other than the weather.