Following calls for electric choice at Lamar Electric Cooperative, now it's customers at Trinity Valley Electric Co-op, serving an area southeast of Dallas, who are seeking electric choice in the wake of bills which have tripled or quadrupled due to higher supply costs

A petition on Facebook details customers' desire for choice, and in addition to higher rates, details dissatisfaction with the co-op's customer service and billing practices. Most notably, according to the Facebook posts, customers are being told they can't dispute their co-op bills.

Imagine if a competitive retail electric provider said that! Of course, they couldn't, lest they run afoul of the PUCT's customer protection rules.

We stress here that this is another example of the "Wild West" world in which Texas co-ops and munis operate, where customers do not enjoy the rigorous customer protection rules which govern the Texas choice market. This dichotomy -- and more importantly the dichotomy in criticism from consumer advocates of the choice market versus their perspective on co-ops -- has been previously highlighted by the PUCT, most memorably at an open meeting in which the more lax disconnection standards of non-PUCT jurisdictional utilities were detailed when the disconnection rules applicable to REPs were being attacked

See the Facebook petition against TVEC for more

Also see coverage in the local media:

CBS-DFW

InForney.com