Status: The State has no active residential customer choice programs, but some municipalities have formed cooperative arrangements with their local distribution companies (LDCs).
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Overview: Although there are no unbundling programs for residential and small-volume commercial customers, several communities in Texas have acted to provide their residents with gas cost advantages. Texas is somewhat unique in that the Railroad Commission of Texas has jurisdiction over intrastate transportation city gate sales for resale and retail rates outside of city limits, but individual communities and municipalities regulate retail natural gas service within their boundaries. As a result, some communities have formed innovative arrangements with their LDCs, such as locking in natural gas prices for the heating season by November 1, or acting as a cooperative for their residents by shopping for competively-priced gas and transportation service. Most of the State's industrial customers are served through direct connections to intrastate pipelines and therefore have long had the ability to purchase natural gas from nonutility suppliers. |
EIA State Data: In 2008, Texas had 4,204,004 residential and 324,537 commercial customers. They consumed approximately 193 and 167 billion cubic feet of natural gas, respectively. The average prices residential and commercial customers paid for natural gas from local distribution companies were $13.75 and $11.25 per thousand cubic feet, respectively. |