Texas sees energy usage grow, highlighting importance of open market

As Texas’ primary electricity regulatory agency, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, announced early this month that the state saw yet another substantial rise in overall electricity demand.

With temperatures soaring to record levels and much of the state suffering from severe droughts, Texas saw electricity usage surge 5 percent as more people stayed in the air conditioning to beat the heat. April and July proved particularly painful, increasing usage 14.4 percent and 12.2 percent from the year before, respectively.

Between this rising usage and a new set of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards that could force the closure of several coal-fired power plants, the state faces some concerns about outages and the Texas Public Utilities Commission hopes to create new rules to account for this, according to The Houston Chronicle.

“From an economic standpoint, during times of scarce supply, prices should rise to incent generators to bring their units online and to encourage electricity users to reduce their consumption,” PUC Chair Donna Nelson said at a hearing, according to the Chronicle.

This could make customers’ choice of electricity providers crucial in the coming years, as some plans will prove more responsive to high demand in the state.