The Facts
- Texas has the most competitive electricity market in the world. Its telecommunications market is equally successful.
- Neither of these markets have shown signs of anticompetitive behavior.
- In 2010, the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended that the PUC have the ability to increase fines and have emergency cease-and-desist authority-even though no examples of violations were cited to justify the recommendations
- This increased enforcement authority, combined with last session’s grant of disgorgement authority, could be used as a bludgeon to force businesses to stop activity that is legal but not favored by regulators.
- These recommendations are an example of the regulatory creep that has occurred in Texas since the onset of competition that has harmed competition and led to concerns about resource adequacy.
Recommendation
- The Texas Sunset Commission should not re-adopt its 2010 recommendations to increase PUC fines or give the Commission emergency cease-and-desist authority.
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