Complaints against electric providers hit a new low

Texans are griping less about their electricity providers, according to a consumer advocacy group’s analysis released Wednesday.

Complaints filed with regulators about electric companies and utilities this year fell to their lowest level since the state deregulated its power market in 2002, according to the analysis by the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power, a consumer group that looks at complaints filed with the state Public Utility Commission.

The report also highlighted a dramatic surge of complaints against Sharyland Utilities, of note because it might factor into a Dallas oil and real estate mogul’s mammoth effort to take over Oncor, the state’s largest electric transmission company.

Statewide, complaints — which cover a range of issues from billing disputes to spotty service — have tumbled in five out of the past six years. Texans filed 6,973 grievances during the 2015 fiscal year, down about 8 percent from the year before. The coalition applauded that trend.

“This report shows that Texans are becoming more comfortable with their electricity providers,” Jay Doegey, president of the group’s board, said in a statement. “It also follows generally improving trends we’ve seen relating to power prices. However, challenges remain.”

Another highlight of this year’s data: a nearly tenfold spike in complaints against Sharyland Utilities. Though the company, owned by the family of Ray L. Hunt, serves just 50,000 customers in small patches of rural West and North Texas, it has gained attention amid Hunt’s $18 billion bid to take control of Oncor as part of the Energy Future Holdings bankruptcy.

To save on federal income taxes, Hunt wants to reorganize Oncor into a “real estate investment trust,” as he did with Sharyland. That would essentially divide the utility into two companies: one owning the assets (power lines, trucks and transformers, for instance), while the other rented the equipment, operated it and dealt with customers.

The unorthodox structure, more commonly used for shopping malls and elsewhere in the real estate world, would help Oncor borrow money at lower rates, proponents say, which could ultimately translate into lower electric rates for customers. But it’s nearly unprecedented in the energy world, making some consumer advocates nervous.

Hunt has pointed to Sharyland, a power and transmission provider, as evidence that the structure can work.

But Wednesday’s report documented 437 complaints in 2015 against the utility, up from just 47 in the year before. Most involved rates and bill charges. The coalition did not analyze reasons for the spike.

Hunt’s camp argues that a number of factors led to the higher rates — all unrelated to the company’s real estate-style structure, which, it argues has served the company well.

“Sharyland’s rates are not affected by our use of a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) structure,” Paul Schulze, a company spokesman said. “Our rates are set by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and are based upon our costs and how we allocate those costs to customers.”

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Complaints against electric providers hit a new low."