Coming soon on the heals of the TMPA Settlement Agreement, the Texas Energy Report announced on Dec 23 that a district court judge had ruled in Garland's favor in a recent case against the Public Utility Commission.
 
At issue, the Legislature had authorized the construction of a multi-billion dollar transmission line from West Texas to carry wind energy to the rest of the state. A number of companies and utilities had lobbied the PUC to be among the constructors. The owners would be able to charge fees for the power transmission, which would eventually be added to the final customers' bill, such as GP&L ratepayers. Even though Garland owns a 47% interest in TMPA, we still have to buy some power on the open market and state and federal agencies require that a portion of that be from renewable resources, like wind power. Local ratepayers will unavoidably have to help pay for the CREZ line. The ideal situation would be to build a portion of the line and use the revenue to offset the new expenses of using the line.
 
The PUC did not award any construction rights to any municipally-owned utilities (such as Garland) or co-operatives. The lack of reasons for that decision did not sit well with the presiding judge.
 

From the Texas Energy Report (public portion):

JUDGE SAYS PROCESS FOR AWARDING CREZ PROJECTS WAS FLAWED By John Moritz   City of Garland says it was unfairly shut out of an opportunity to build transmission lines and towers.   The Public Utility Commission overstepped its statutory authority early this year when it preliminarily awarded $5 billion worth of projects to construct the transmission lines and towers for the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, a state district judge said in a letter this week.   "The PUC relied upon factors that are not relevant to providing transmission capacity in a manner most beneficial and cost-effective to electric customers and based its decision on underlying findings that lack substantial evidence," Judge Stephen Yelenosky of the 345th District Court in Travis County said in his letter dated Monday to lawyers for the city of Garland and the Texas Attorney General’s Office.   [The rest of the story is available only to subscribers.]

Judge Stephen Yelnosky

 
No order from the court has yet been released but it is expected this month. This is one more effort by the staff at GP&L and the City Attorney's Office to keep electric rates as low as possible in the city.