A BRIEF EXPLANATION: Two Sharyland customers in Midland Tx created a Facebook group for Caprock/Sharyland customers to ban together to fight the fact that we are still paying far more for electricity distribution than other electric customers in our area. This is due to the fact that despite deregulation Sharyland Utilities is still our Transmission and Distribution Utility (TDU) regardless of who the Retail Electric Provider, (Stream, TXU, etc) is. Basically, the TDU is meter, lines and infrastructure....who you call when your electricity goes out.  Your Retail Electric Provider (REP) is the energy provider who bills you for the actual energy usage.. 

Every TDU charges a per kWh TDU rate which is passed directly to you and your REP adds the TDU charge to your bill.  This rate is approved by the Public Utility Commission (PUC).  As our TDU, the Sharyland Utility TDU rate is more than DOUBLE the rate of other Texas regulated TDU, such as Oncor.  We need to gather information and, more importantly, contact the Public Utility Commission to protest this inflated TDU rate.  And ask that it be investigated and lowered to a rate that is competitive with the rates charged by every other regulated TDU in Texas. We are STILL being held hostage by Caprock/Sharyland despite now having a supposed "right to choose"!

THE ISSUES BEHIND THE PETITION:

***The per kWh Transmission and Distribution Rate aka TDU, charged by Sharyland Utilities (.081768) and approved by the PUC is 2-3 times MORE than all of the other regulated distributor rates in Texas INCLUDING those distributors in this same area (Oncor .033344)  and including the rates charged by Sharyland Utilities in another Sharyland territory. (Sharyland McAllen .037456).

See chart here http://www.txu.com/en/residential/customer-care/tdu-delivery-charges.aspx

 ***The Sharyland Utilities deregulation and rate setting process singled out one Sharyland consumer territory to pay a discriminatory higher per kWh TDU rate than the rest of Texas and higher than any other Sharyland territory.  These residential customers were told by Sharyland that they have to pay more due to their "rural" geographic location and so that Non-residential customers can be charged less. http://www.newswest9.com/story/28576392/sharyland-utilities-customers-upset-over-unusually-high-delivery-service-charges ;

***The Sharyland Utilities deregulation forced the same group to continue to use Sharyland Utilities but now pay inflated and discriminatory prices for distribution, with NO power to choose, even though these same consumers were Sharyland customers prior to deregulation at a much lower cost.

 ***The process and filings for Sharyland Tariff Delivery Rates are complex and generally involved both legal counsel and paid expert testimony for all participating parties.  (See the 316 filings here http://interchange.puc.texas.gov/WebApp/Interchange/application/dbapps/filings/pgControl.asp?TXT_UTILITY_TYPE=A&TXT_CNTRL_NO=41474&TXT_ITEM_MATCH=1&TXT_ITEM_NO&TXT_N_UTILITY&TXT_N_FILE_PARTY&TXT_DOC_TYPE=ALL&TXT_D_FROM&TXT_D_TO&TXT_NEW=true) The average consumer does not have the general knowledge nor the resources to interpret all of these filings and effectively participate and intervene in this process.  Therefore, the rate setting process did not encourage participation from individual consumers who have no available legal or expert assistance.  The rate setting process also did not fully disclose the actual resulting cost and/or cost increase to the average consumer during the process.  And the Public Utility Commission has done nothing to create an environment that offers better disclosure or encourages participation from the average individual consumer.

***The current Sharyland Utility TDU rate has caused electric bills in our area for Sharyland customers to increase dramatically.  Many customer's bills and doubled, some even tripled.  This gross increase in costs has caused great hardship for those on fixed income, low income, disability and for our farmers and local small business owners.  The legislature that was designed to protect residential and small business consumers has failed and it is up to lawmakers to step in and right this wrong and enact laws to prevent this from happening again.

ABOUT ME:

I, Nancy Raney, got involved on the agricultural side because the farmers in rural West Texas are getting over charged, as are the homeowners and we have to do something about it before it is too late.  

This is a grassroots effort that was started by a couple of ladies that decided they were not going to take it anymore!! Lets keep the ball rolling and demand a fair rate for electricity!!

Sharyland Customers for Fair Rates

www.scffr.com