Austin Energy Losing Its Monopoly?

Senator Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls) SB 940 By Sibyl West & James R. Clements Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas  I got my dreaded monthly electric bill from the City of Austin along with the usual greenie weenie propaganda dutifully printed on biodegradable paper.  Since enviro-paganism is not my religion (and I am also opposed to government picking winners & losers through taxpayer subsidized rackets of crony capitalism) I find the inserts not merely annoying but actually obscene. It reminds me of the famous quote by Thomas Jefferson ... 

To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

Shortly thereafter I received this note from Jim Clements a very trusted activist friend regarding newly filed legislation that would end Austin Energys state-sanctioned monopoly":

If you missed this article in the Statesman a very important event occurred on Thursday March 3. We all need to get behind Senator Craig Estes R-Wichita Falls and make sure this new legislation gets pasted to deregulate the power supply to the resident and businesses in the city of Austin.  Call the Senator and tell him thanks from all Texans. Call  Lt. Governor Dewhurst and let everyone know how important this is for Texas and the residents of the City of Austin and everybody being served by Austin Electric.  Lt. Gov. Dewhurst knows this issue better than most. The State of Texas spends over $18 million a year paying its electric bill to Austin Electric. Its just another hidden tax for the city.

Here is an opinion he has written on the subject. The Unjustifiable Cost of Living in the City of Austin Texas By James R. Clements Living in the beautiful Hill Country City of Austin Texas is almost worth any cost for most of us.   Traveling around the world when I tell people I live in Austin you can see their faces light up with enthusiasm and unanimously they all say they love it -  such a beautiful city and a wonderful place to visit the music capital of America.  Some of them say this even if theyve never been here because theyve heard of Austin. And of course Texas is bigger than life and were all cowboys. Whats not so obvious when youre living on the outside looking in is how corrupt and misguided many of the local Austinite liberal do-gooders are that have taken over our State Capital; theyre the government bureaucrats that all work for the federal state county and city government bureaus that manage and run our everyday lives in the City of Austin. They are convinced that they know better than we do whats good for us how we should live our lives and how important it is that they tax us to pay for them to run our lives. Give a bureaucrat an office and a budget and he will figure out how to hire ten more bureaucrats to tax us to run his department. Living in Austin may be a privilege but we shouldnt be forced to pay higher utility bills than almost any other city in the State of Texas for that privilege.   Austin Electric is run by the liberal City Council as a hidden tax and Austin Electric is obsessed with its Green Energy" program Damn the cost full steam ahead" seems like their slogan.  I imagine their philosophy goes something like:

We are Green Energy and thats good! So lets go out and buy Solar Energy and pay more for it. Lets go out and buy Wind Energy and pay more for it and what the heck lets buy some of that Waste Wood Energy over in East Texas and pay more for it.  Its not our money. Were a municipally-owned-state-sanctioned monopoly and we can just pass the cost on to the ratepayer.  They will never notice when we raise their rates by 25 to cover the cost of our stupidity. This is all part of the Global Sustainability UN Agenda 21 project so were doing the right thing for the Peoples Socialist Republic of Austin right?"

WRONG! Mayor Leffingwell is that commitment by the City Council a GUARANTEE that you will keep the Austin Electric rates to 2 percent a year after the 12 increase planned in 2012?  Or is that just something that you thought would sound good? One thing we can agree on Mayor Leffingwell is we should be fair and deregulate all of the Municipal electric utilities in Texas. Open competition is the only thing that has proven to keep the rates lower for everybody.  We must deregulate Austin Electric. If you lived in Houston you would have 20 different electric service providers for your residential service to choose from.  Here in Austin you can choose from Green Energy or NOT but in any case your rates are going to be higher.  Theres just no end to the Liberals ability to find new ways to tax the citizens for their liberal social programs. Clean clean clean clean clean Moving to 35 renewable generation by 2020

… Austin Energys GreenChoice^® program is the nations most successful utility-sponsored and voluntary green-pricing energy program. It has been for eight years in a row!  GreenChoice customers support electric generation from clean renewable sources. Current subscriptions number almost 800 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) and are increasing. A subscription to GreenChoice means that the current fuel charge (currently at 3.105 cents per kWh) is replaced with the GreenChoice Batch 6 fuel charge of 5.7 cents per kWh. A residential customer using an average of 1000 kWh per month will pay about $25.00 per month more by subscribing to GreenChoice"…

Now isnt that special? My current fuel charge" is 3.105 cents per kWh and if I sign up for this great nifty GreenChoice" Batch 6 my fuel Charge goes up to 5.7 cents per kWh.  Thats cool I get to pay 45 more for my fuel charge for the honor of buying Green Energy. Are the Liberals living in Austin really that stupid? Good News Austin! I bet you didnt know that Austin Electric and the City Council of Austin are more concerned about being compliant with the United Nations UNFCCC policies set by the CRS then keeping your utility rates lower. Check out this.

Green-e Energy certifies that Austin Energys GreenChoice Program meets the minimum environmental and consumer protection standards established by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions.

Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) is a national nonprofit that creates policy and market solutions to advance sustainable energy.

Center for Resource Solutions Blog Understanding the Limitations of the UNFCCC …"Hey guess what? The beacon of hope has been reignited and faith in the multilateral climate change process has been restored?" I bet you didnt know that. In fact I bet that even if you had heard that the 16^th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations ended on December 10"…

Can someone tell me how a national nonprofit center creates policy that Austin Electric and the Austin City Council follows?  And Why is Karl Rbago from Austin Energy the Chairman?

Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) creates policy and market solutions to advance sustainable energy. Were a national nonprofit with global impact. CRS brings forth expert responses to climate change issues with the speed and effectiveness necessary to provide real-time solutions. Our leadership through collaboration and environmental innovation builds policies and consumer-protection mechanisms in renewable energy greenhouse gas reductions and energy efficiency that foster healthy and sustained growth in national and international markets.

Its one city two planets. But my question is: If they get to live on their own planet why do we have to pay for it?