Austin News

Although it is important for electricity costs to be released to the public so that customers can hold its elected officials accountable for pricing, the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas is alleging work product privilege in refusing a recent request for public information, according to a news release.

“In deregulated markets the customers can shop around to pick an electric company that has pricing they like,” Brent Webster, senior counsel with the Edwards Sutarwalla law firm, said. “With the PUC, the customer is stuck with the PUC and their only remedy for exorbitant pricing is to petition their elected officials.”

Webster was responding to the rejection that Bill Peacock, an analyst with Energy Alliance, received from the PUC after he requested electricity pricing data.

“Unfortunately, many government agencies routinely file objections to releasing information to discourage requests,” Webster told Austin News. “The question is, do the facts presented by the government agency [PUC] line up with the objections. In this case it seems that the facts do not line up with the objections, as the pricing data is primarily used for charging customers and not created for litigation.”

As previously reported in the Lone Star Standard, Texans will face higher electric bills and should not expect relief anytime soon. The price of electricity is being artificially increased, according to Peacock, because regulators are concerned that there aren’t enough reliable sources of electricity other than natural gas. 

PUC’s rejection and Peacock’s request for pricing information are currently pending with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who is expected to issue a final ruling on whether the information requested is, in fact, public information.

“It appears that the PUC has not successfully demonstrated that they should be able to withhold the information,” Webster said. “The question remains, based on the objection made by a third party non-government entity, is there a trade secret hidden within the information, that needs to be withheld? The attorney general's office must review this data and determine if there is something that qualifies as a trade secret.”

Although the PUC isn’t violating any laws at this point, if Paxton doesn't direct PUC to release the information, Peacock can file a lawsuit in district court, challenging whether the information should be released, Webster noted.

“The PUC followed the procedure for asking the attorney general to allow them to withhold information,” he added. “Now it is up the attorney general to make a decision as to whether the information should be released.”