Wrong choice for the father of electric choice?

National Power Co., the small Houston-based electric retailer that has run afoul of Texas regulators, has one very high-profile customer.

Steve Wolens, the former state representative who co-authored the legislation that made National Power possible, said he signed about a 16-month contract with the retail electric provider.

"That's my REP! I'm its customer," Wolens said in an email.

A spokesman for the Texas Public Utility Commission has said the agency has opened an investigation into National Power for allegedly breaking fixed-rate deals with customers. The PUC also has removed National Power from the state's Web site that lists competitive electric offers.

Wolens, as a Democrat from Dallas, sponsored Senate Bill 7 in 1999 that created the state's system of retail electric competition. He said he's about a year into his contract with National Power.

"I haven't picked up the mail this week to see if they broke the deal," he said.

The company last week sent letters advising customers that it was canceling existing fixed-rate plans and jacking up prices. That means some customers who signed annual contracts last winter could see their bills go up by as much as 50 percent, according to figures provided by the Texas Public Utility Commission.

A customer-service official for National Power on Wednesday declined to comment or to provide other contact phone numbers for the company. She also said she would pass a message from the Star-Telegram on to company officials, who had not responded by Thursday.

-- R.A. Dyer

Comments

[sgmorr]

Well, too bad for Wolens. At least he can afford to pay whatever those jerks have him on the hook for.

And thank you, Wolens, from the bottom of our collective hearts for selling your fellow Texans out for the almighty dollar. Electric dereg. has cost us dearly and the industry has profited handsomely.

[Dennis Revell]

Dereg is/was, and will be for as long as it is allowed to persist, a complete and utter rip-off.

Not too surprising, as it was after all, kicked off (mainly) by ex-Enron Arch Criminal Jeffry Skilling.

Something vaguely satisfying about Mr. Wolens, who according to your story was a major protagonist of this rip-off, also getting on the wrong end of it.

A Democrat too. One less difference, I suppose.