Electric Utilities

Report: Customers Have Forked Over $500 Million to Cover Oncor's Phantom Tax Payments

Dallas-based utility Oncor has collected half a billion dollars from ratepayers to cover federal income taxes it has never paid. Last year alone, customers paid $230 million to reimburse the utility for a "phantom" tax bill, according to a new report from the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power. T ... More >>

Vacation Photos Are Banned

ERCOT Greenlights Temporary Shutdown Of Power Plant As TXU Weathers Financial Doldrums

Electricity is so cheap right now that for some generators it doesn't even pay to make it. At the end of August, Dallas-based Energy Future Holdings, the former TXU, announced it would mothball two units at its Monticello coal-fired plant for six to seven months. ERCOT, the state's grid manager, gav ... More >>

Her Corsage Has Seen Better Days

Regulators Didn't Need To Raise Price of Electricity To Keep Lights On

As of Wednesday, the wholesale price of electricity generators can charge during times of peak demand goes up 50 percent. And as it turns out, that's probably a waste of money. Regulators are worried because it looks like we won't have enough generating capacity to meet Texas's growing needs. Probl ... More >>

Get Ready To Conserve Electricity. ERCOT's Forecast Says This Summer Could Be Rough

Heads up, guys. Remember last summer? It was so damned hot Texans were horse-whipping their thermostats. We came this close to rolling blackouts. So close we're pretty sure Public Utility commish Ken Anderson lost some years off of his life, or at least a little hair. We'd like to tell you this summ ... More >>

This Summer's Texas Blackout Avoidance Strategy: Diesel Generators and Voluntarily Going Dark

Seeing as how the Texas climate these days is predisposed to extremes, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas passed a rule change last week they hope will prevent another epic, frozen February blackout or a grid driven to the brink by gawd-awful Texas h ... More >>

So There's a Good Chance Energy Future, Texas' Largest Power Generator, Goes Broke

A major credit-rating agency is expressing grave doubts about the ability of the state's largest nonregulated power generator to pay off its debt. Energy Future Holdings, the Dallas-based parent company of power generator Luminant, transmission company Oncor and retail electricity provider TXU Ener ... More >>

Clean Electricity Bill Could Be A Bonanza For Shale Barons

A senator from New Mexico has proposed a bill that could change the face of Texas electric generation. And it has another interesting side-effect: It could reinvigorate a shale gas play depressed by tanking prices. U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committ ... More >>

A Simple Response to Texas' Blackout Blues: Bend Over

A picture is worth 6,700 words. If you look around on our home page, you'll find "Blackout Blues," a story by Brantley Hargrove about North Texas' biggest electricity company, the EPA, money and lies. It's a good read. The gist of the story is simple: We're screwed. How screwed? Well, the Texas Pub ... More >>

Tomorrow, the Dallas City Council Will Explore How We Keep the Lights From Going Out

In light of a few things -- namely the one-year anniversary of the most widespread rolling blackout in Texas history; the razor-thin reserve margins that left the state teetering on the verge of more rolling blackouts during that hot-as-hell summer; and ERCOT's assertion that there aren't enough pla ... More >>

Celebrate Electricity Deregulation! Bake a Cake! But Hold the Candles. You'll Need Them.

​While you were busy with all the holidays, another important reason for drinking heavily probably escaped your attention. This month marks 10 years of deregulation in Texas's retail electric market. Hey, put down that chair. No need for violence. This is the free market we're huzzahing here, ... More >>

Report: Texas Power Plants (Well, Luminant's, Really) Biggest Emitters of Mercury in U.S.

How now, Big Brown?​Emissions of cancer- and central nervous system defect-causing toxic air pollution put Texas power plants atop the pile of serial polluters, a report based on EPA data finds. Nationwide, pollution controls such as smokestack scrubbers have reduced the rates at which air tox ... More >>

Enviro Groups Prepare To Sue Luminant's Northeast Texas Power Plants Over Air Pollution

Big Brown​The Sierra Club gave Luminant Generation Company, downtown-based and one of Texas's biggest power suppliers, notice Thursday that it plans to sue them for thousands of alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at two of its coal-fired power plants in northeast Texas. According to envi ... More >>

ERCOT Warns: Conserve Power Now or Risk "Controlled Temporary Interruptions" Later

ERCOT​This just in from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas: Adjust your thermostats to 78 or higher now -- or, at the very least, between 3 and 7 p.m. -- or the whole state runs the risk of brownouts later. Why? Well, sure -- it's hot, hot, hotter than hell. But, according to a statement is ... More >>

Former NY State Comptroller Makes Case For Retiring Three of Luminant's Coal-Fired Plants

Big Brown​Former New York State First Deputy Comptroller-turned-investment banker Tom Sanzillo released a report this morning, via the Sierra Club, demanding that Dallas-based Energy Future Holding (and its Luminant subsidiary) shutter three of its coal-fired power plants: Big Brown (in Fairfield) ... More >>

My First Show: The Posies' Jon Auer Saw Jimi Hendrix--Sort Of

Welcome to a new feature here on DC9 called My First Show, where we give bands a chance to talk about the first shows they ever attended -- no matter how uncool and embarrassing those tales may be. Julian Ochoa ​ Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow have (save for a couple years apart) kept The Posi ... More >>

Mayor Tom Leppert Welcomes Windpower Expo to Dallas, A "Quiet" Green Energy Leader

Photos by Patrick MichelsMayor Tom Leppert welcomed wind power players to this week's convention, telling them Dallas has quietly become one of the country's leading green cities. Texas is already king of the hill when it comes to turning wind into electricity, and for folks who work in the industry ... More >>

Sustainable Art

Do Not Curb Your Enthusiasm, as EPA Honors Laura Miller

Dirty Talk: Laura Miller on "Carbon Sequestration" and "Pulverized Coal"

TXU's Winged Friends

Still Plenty of Smoke to Be Cleared in TXU Deal

TXU Power Prez Gives Good Deposition. You Can Read It So We Don't Have To.

Matt Pulle's Crystal Ball

Corndoggle

Dallas Is Banking On Ethanol, But Is It The Fuel Of The Future Or A Barrel Of Pork?

The Coal Kids

Little Steps

Homes on the Move