ustxtxb_obs_1980_03_28_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

retroactively and when they decided to allow utilities to use a new test year for appeal. The AG opinion is pending. But it doesn’t matter. By the time the opinion is rendered, Entex will be back in San Marcos seeking another increase, and the case will be moot. Except to San Marcos residents, who keep paying while the state is playing. Jack Hopper . . . And again That’s not the only utility company skinning going on. Texas Power & Light wants to build more generating plants, passing on the burden of financing to consumers, especially residential ones. To accomplish this, TP&L is asking the state Public Utilities Commission for a rate hike in 51 counties in North Central and East Texas. The rate increase, if approved, would add an extra 20 percent to the bills of the average residential users and 12 percent to industrial users.. It’ll probably be approved, given the track record of utility regulation, but a group of 33 low income senior citizens from Brown, Johnson and Palo Pinto counties, represented by West Texas Legal Services of Fort Worth, is fighting the rate hike. During public hearings in March, Legal Services attorney Geoffrey Gay pointed out that TP&L has asked the PUC to permit the company to earn profits on $338 million worth of construction costs for facilities at Comanche Peak that won’t be ready for years. “This is especially unfair to our senior citizens,” Gay said. He also told the PUC hearing that senior citizens are typically low volume users and as such “would be stuck with a disproportionate share of the costs of an additional generating plant.” Gay also objected to other nifty elements of TP&L’s way of giving consumture for big companies which “provides a disincentive to conserve electric cutting off power for nonpayment of bills bitrary inclusion in the rate base of gifts to charitable or religious organizations which TP&L finds worthy. Solar Eclipse? The sun may be monopolized sooner than you think. Arco, Mobil, Exxon and Shell have already bought their own solar electricity companies. And today, Big Oil controls 65% of the domestic copper needed for solar collectors. Solar Lobby has been fighting for your energy independence since the first Sun Day, May Third, 1978. Now we’re in Washington, keeping solar competitive, pushing enlightened solutions to our energy problems. Join us today, and declare your energy independence. Solar Lobby 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW Fifth Floor Washington, D.C. 20036 Please send me more information on Solar Lobby. Here is my $15 contribution. Please enroll me as a member of Solar Lobby and send me your “Blueprint for a Solar America.” Name Address City State Zip I Information for Historians, Researchers, Nostalgia Buffs, & Observer Fans Bound Volumes: The 1979 bound issues of The Texas Observer will be available in January. In maroon, washable binding, the price is $20. Also available at $20 each are volumes for the years 1963 through 1978. Cumulative Index: The clothbound cumulative edition of The Texas Observer Index covering the years 1954-1970 may be obtained for $12. Index Supplements: The 1971 through 1978 paperback supplements are provided at no additional charge to those who purchase the cumulative index at $12. Subscribers who do not want the cumulative index may purchase any of the supplements separately. The price is 75 cents for each year. Back Issues: Issues dated January TO, 1963, to the present are available at 75 cents per issue. Earlier issues are out of stock, but photocopies of articles from issues dated December 13, 1954, through December 27, 1962, will be provided at 75 cents per article. Microfilm: The complete backfile scription to the microfilm edition is $15. To order, or to obtain additional information regarding the 35mm microfilm editions, please write to Microfilming Corporation of America, 1620 Hawkins Avenue, Box 10, Sanford, N.C. 27330. server Business Office. Texas residents please add the 5% sales tax to your remittance. Materials will be sent postpaid. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 600 W. 7 ST. AUSTIN 78701 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13 4,41011*.loaft…4*. tO ySiert11. 300….?”…,! -.10414**010610+0.6,,,…..rotereolopOgigeoglimew.4.1…..4.0% ,4,1,,