FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25th, 2012
October 25th, 2012
Contact: Dave
Cortez, 512.736.7600, davec (at) bluegreenalliance.org
Texas PUC Doubles Wholesale Price Caps for Electricity,
Denies
Petition to Implement Job Creating Clean Energy Law
Commission rejects support from over 6,600 Texans, business owners
Austin, Texas
– With the
Public Utilities Commission of Texas approving a measure to double statewide
wholesale offer caps, a.k.a. “price caps,” for electricity from $4,500 per
megawatt hour to $9,000, clean energy advocates are mobilizing a grassroots response
to the Commission’s denial of a
petition
filed by the BlueGreen Apollo Alliance, Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and other
advocates that calls for the implementation of a 2005 clean energy law
requiring the development of solar and geothermal energy generation.
"Instead
of implementing this bold clean energy law, the PUC has made every effort to
reject clean energy policies and is now moving to raise electricity prices
without establishing any protections for consumers," said Dave Cortez of the
Texas BlueGreen Apollo Alliance. “We should be implementing policy that
supports Texas workers and small business owners, not making administrative
moves that pad profits for outdated generators and provide zero guarantee that
new power plants will be built.”
 |
| "It would be my preference if we waited, forever,” said PUC Chairman Donna Nelson when asked about implementing the non-wind renewable portfolio standard. |
Passed by the Texas Legislature and signed
into law by Governor Perry in 2005, Senate Bill 20 established a requirement
for the development of at least 500 megawatts of non-wind renewable energy, which
reflects a rare sign of bipartisanship aimed at diversifying the state’s energy
portfolio by establishing a market for solar and geothermal power.
Highlighting PUC Commissioner Ken Anderson’s
May 2012 remark that raising price caps was like “carting away money, not in
wheelbarrows, but in Mack trucks” to generators, clean energy advocates pointed
to the concerns of 6,669 Texas citizens who wrote comments in support of the September 12th
rulemaking petition. More than 70 individuals and organizations representing workers,
professors, ranchers, and clean energy businesses also signed an endorsement
letter in support of the petition.
A 2009 study conducted by Vote Solar estimated
that Texas could gain more than 21,500 installation and
manufacturing jobs if a 2,000-megawatt solar mandate were implemented by 2020. While
comments submitted against the petition point to potential increases in the
price of electricity, these opponents fail to recognize the avoided costs of
importing out of state fossil fuel resources, the superior resiliency of solar
and geothermal energy resources to drought, as well as long-term economic
development benefits and local tax revenues that will be generated by renewable
energy.
 |
| Ben Brenneman (pictured above w/ wife Emily and daughter Daphne) is a trained NABCEP certified electrician w/ IBEW Local Union 520, and is looking for a career in solar |
“The bad news
is we’re in the process of opening a second office, and the second office will
be in California,” said Tim Padden, founder of Revolve Solar. “I would rather be in Dallas,
San Antonio or Houston, but the reality is California has taken a stand to
support the development of the solar industry seriously by setting statewide
goals and local support for their solar companies. I want to see this happen
here in my home state. These could be Texas jobs.”
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