Parsley Keeps Power Over Power

In an unsurprising move, the Senate confirmed the reappointment of Julie Parsley to the Public Utilities Commission of Texas on Wednesday. The former solicitor general and Rick Perry appointee sits on the three-person body that's supposed to keep some sort of control in the newly deregulated electricity market. Not that she's ever really shown any sign of that.

Last April, Parsley and fellow Commissioner Barry Smitherman out-voted commission Chairman Paul Hudson in a pivotal showdown. Hudson wanted to force the incumbent energy companies like TXU and Reliant to appear before the PUC over possible price gouging. The big firms had sought permission to raise their electricity prices in the wake of Katrina, due to high fuel prices. Months later, the fuel prices had dropped, but the electricity prices hadn't. Parsley said that it was very sad, but the PUC had no power to do anything about it.

It was a significant message to the big electricity companies that one of the industry's main regulators wasn't a big fan of regulation.

Parsley also sat on Perry's Energy Planning Council, whose 2005 report (see the .pdf here) pushed Texas further down the path of coal and oil reliance.