AUSTIN — North Texas residents could see an increase in their electricity bills after the state’s power grid regulator on Thursday approved a rate increase for the company that owns the Dallas-Fort Worth power lines.
The company estimates that the rate increases requested by Oncall are expected to increase the average residential customer’s bill by $1 a month.
This is the third increase since a new law allows power companies to increase the pace of requesting rate increases in the past eight months. Since the law took effect, these rate increases amount to about $3.40 per month for the average residential customer.
The Public Utilities Commission approved the increase without comment.
Oncor is a state-recognized monopoly that owns power lines across a vast area of Texas, including the Dallas area and Midland-Odessa. State law provides Oncor with guaranteed rates of return and reimbursement for PUC-approved investments in the state’s transmission line infrastructure.
The price increase is only about one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt hour.
Although these charges do not appear as a line item on your electric bill, companies such as Oncor charge customers $4.23 per month. Instead, the electricity bill is billed to the retail electricity provider and considered part of the total price the customer pays for electricity usage. Oncor estimates total billing costs for the average residential customer to be approximately $50 per month.
Oncor is seeking to raise more than $81 million from higher rates for new powerline infrastructure.
“With historic growth across our service area, our team continues to serve new and existing customers safely and reliably,” Oncor spokeswoman Cynthia Cano Valdespino said in an emailed statement. “We are committed to making significant and strategic investments in our power infrastructure and systems to continue to serve our customers.”
The pace of these rate hikes has doubled since the Texas Legislature last year passed a law allowing power transmission companies to change rates twice a year instead of once. Senate Bill 1015, authored by Sen. Phil King (R-Weatherford), also reduced the scrutiny process for interest rate lawsuits.
Oncor’s electricity distribution rates have increased 13.7% since the law took effect last year and are up 36% since 2017.
“Even with this change, Oncor’s rates continue to be among the lowest of any investor-owned utility in Texas,” Cano Valdespino said.
Mr. King did not return messages seeking comment to his office.
The first-term senator wrote to the utility committee last month saying the bill aims to mimic how similar rate increases on other components of utility revenue streams are being handled.
“The intent of SB 1015 was to streamline an inefficient and litigious rate hike process,” King wrote.
The new law sets a 60-day deadline for electricity distribution companies to request rate increases. And since its implementation, some aspects of the quasi-judicial process have been eliminated.
