Texas Democratic Party: Moving Texas Forward

WASHINGTON – The companies building Texas’ $5 billion renewable-energy transmission network have decided against seeking stimulus funding that could have saved money for consumers.

The decision was made last month in a little-noticed hearing of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, where regulators agreed with the companies that stimulus funds came with regulations that could slow construction. One commissioner, Kenneth W. Anderson Jr., told the companies, “The juice may not be worth the squeeze.”

The $750 million in loan guarantees for transmission was a signature piece of the stimulus law, which was crafted with an eye to help create millions of green jobs. In particular, Congress hoped the stimulus would help finance the transmission needed to move renewable energy from the Texas Panhandle and other remote locations to urban areas that need the power.

But the Texas companies told the PUC that any potential savings for customers from federal funding was inferior to higher costs that could arise from provisions such as a “Buy American” rule, which required that stimulus-funded projects use iron, steel and other goods produced in the U.S.

“Cost increases arising from this Buy American [rule] could quickly overcome the savings created by the lower cost of capital,” Richard Roloff, vice president of finance at LS Power, told the commissioners.

To read more go to the Dallas Morning News article.