Good news, everybody.
I know you’ve been worried about those investors from JP Morgan Chase. You know, the ones behind the IFF, which bought El Paso Electric back in 2019. If you’re like me, you’ve been tossing and turning at night, worrying about how they’re going to be able to afford sending their kids to Harvard, or making the next payment on their yachts.
Well, here’s how, from the El Paso Times:
El Paso Electric officials want to increase electric rates by $41.8 million in Texas, or an overall increase of 7.8%.
The bulk of the proposed increase would come from residential customers, according to details in the 6,000-page rate case filed late Tuesday with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which must approve the new rates.
The average El Paso-area residential customer’s bill would increase $11.76 per month, or an increase of 13.4%, according to the filing.
The proposed increase includes a $2.29 per month boost in the residential customer charge, which is a recurring monthly charge separate from electric rates.
The overall rate increase for the residential classification would be 14.1%. However, the average bill would have a lower percentage increase because of various other components in a bill, said James Schichtl, the utility’s vice president of regulatory and government affairs.
The average residential electric bill would go from $88.05 per month to $99.81, the filing shows.
We already have the highest electric rates in Texas. So why not jack it up another 14%?
Remember, former Mayor Dee Margo, who was deposed in the last General Election, had this to say about El Paso Electric’s acquisition by JP Morgan Chase affiliated IFF back in 2019 (from a different El Paso Times article):
“It provides financial stability to El Paso Electric while providing numerous economic incentives for attracting more jobs and investments,” Margo said in a statement. “The success of IIF’s purchase will not be based on rate increases, but on performance and growth.”
And if you can’t trust Dee “Hold the Line on Taxes” Margo, who can you trust?
Public comment on Permit Number PSDTX1090M1
This (below) was my comment submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) staff responsible for reviewing the application for the El Paso Electric’s Newman Power Station (would that be, “Neuvo Hombre”?). It pertains directly to this issue of non-local ownership.
“COMMENTS: El Paso has always been a dumping ground for toxins, like Asarco and Western Refining. We used to have a local electric utility and now it has become a hedge fund run by east coast yuppies with no feeling or personal commitment to the community. All hat and no cattle, as they say in Texas. Please stop this project and make them invest in solar and wind power for the sake of future El Pasoans.”
WTF did you expect, Dee?