Last month, Retail Energy Buyer reported on a meeting where Austin city council members met with Austin Energy stakeholders to discuss whether to allow customers to choose their own retail providers. At the meeting only one council member spoke in favor of deregulating the municipal utility, and some spoke out against it. However, the Austin Business Journal reported on March 25 that Texas Senator Troy Fraser has introduced legislation to allow large-scale customers of Austin Energy to shop for electricity from retail energy providers. Specifically, the proposal would allow customers that use at least 25 million kWh of electricity annually, or aggregated groups of customers that purchase that amount, to purchase retail energy and to appeal rate increases to the Texas Public Utility Commission.
