Deregulate

Dallas-based Texas Utilities said it supports a bill toderegulate Texas’ $19 billion electric industry. The proposal waspassed Wednesday by the House State Affairs Committee by a vote of13 to 2 and now goes to the full House for consideration.

The Colorado Senate last week approved and sent on to the Housea bill to deregulate retail gas distribution in the state. Thebill’s sponsor, Sen. David Owen, R-Greeley, said he expects thelegislation (SB 99-153) to pass this year.

While efforts to deregulate the electric industry at both thestate and federal level drag on, at least one internationalobserver found U.S. gas deregulation worthy of praise. RobertPriddle, executive director of the International Energy Agency(IEA) in Paris, told reporters at the 17th Congress of the WorldEnergy Council that the United States leads the world in gascompetition.

While efforts to deregulate the electric industry at both thestate and federal level drag on, at least one internationalobserver found U.S. gas deregulation worthy of praise. RobertPriddle, executive director of the International Energy Agency(IEA) in Paris, told reporters at the 17th Congress of the WorldEnergy Council that the United States leads the world in gascompetition. Priddle said he is heartened by the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission’s (FERC) decision to review pipeline rateregulation. Priddle gave his talk to highlight findings of theIEA’s report card on U.S. energy policy. The findings stem from a1998 review and are published by the agency in a 152-page book.