Competition was introduced into the Texas electricity and telecommunications markets in the late 1990s. Unlike the tele- communications market that has seen increasing levels of deregulation, the electricity market has been subject to a steady assault of attempts to heap new regulations on the market. Many have succeeded. Nevertheless, the competitive Texas electricity market has proved all critics wrong by supplying a reliable, affordable supply of electricity since its inception in 2002.

One attack against the market was made through a series of forecasts in 2012 of diminishing resource adequacy. This set the stage for a push by generators and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) toward vastly increasing government intervention in the electricity market. However, a more accurate assessment of the data debunked the notion that Texas needs to adopt a capacity market with subsidies to generators as high as $4 billion a year— on top of what Texans pay for electricity.