TXU: Double-check the name on your bill.

The Pubic Utility Commission has handed down a $5 million fine against TXU Energy Retail Company LP. It’s part of a settlement over locking commercial customers into long-term contracts without telling them.

Since the beginning of the year, most Texans have been in a deregulated electricity market, able to change suppliers for the best price or the greenest sources. While homeowners have been slow to switch, businesses have been more willing to move between companies. If a firm doesn’t renew its contract with an electric company, the company is supposed to send out a renewal notice. If the customer doesn’t respond, then the electric firm is supposed to automatically renew them for 31 days. Instead, TXU was signing them back up for a whole year.

The PUC found TXU had re-signed 4,000 small businesses like this. Now they have five days to pay up.

This article appears in July 20 • 2007.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.