Study: Texas Railroad Commission's rulings often favor utilities | News | News from Fort...
The study was conducted by policy analyst R.A. Dyer, a former Austin correspondent for the Star-Telegram. In all but one of the examined cases, the study says, the commission rejected the overall revenue requirement proposed by the hearing examiners in favor of a revenue requirement granting the company more money.
In a 2004 case involving TXU, which has since been merged into Atmos, the examiners recommended that the North Texas utility receive a $19.7 million rate decrease. Instead, commissioners awarded an $11.7 million increase.
Additionally, said the study, the commissioners also shifted some of the burden for gas rates from the utility's industrial customers onto its residential customers. As a result, residential bills went up 4 to 5 percent, while commercial customers received an 8.4 percent rate cut and industrial customers' rates were cut by 27 percent.
The commission, in its statement, said that commissioners decided "to end a decades-long practice of having the industrial customers subsidize the cost of residential customers. Residential rates reflect the fact that they are more numerous and use less natural gas per customer than commercial customers."
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