Texas Attorney General Wants Assurances of Lower Utility Rates From Tax Reform

While the Oklahoma Corporation Commission wants utilities to first review the impact of lower federal corporate taxes before deciding whether to move ahead with lower consumer rates,  the attorney general  in Texas wants to make sure the feds take care of it.

Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, joined 10 Democratic and other Republican attorneys general in other states in a coordinated campaign to convince the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure tax savings are definitely passed along to consumers.

With the corporate tax rate dropped from 35 down to 21 percent on Jan. 1, those utilities are paying lower taxes and have more money. It’s what the 16 attorneys general argue according to the Dallas Morning News.

““Unless the Commission adjusts the Public Utilities’ revenue requirements to reflect this federal corporate income tax reduction, utility customers nationwide will be overpaying for their electric and gas service by hundreds of millions of dollars,” the letter reads.

The combination of Democratic and Republican attorneys general, including Paxton, wrote the letter asking the federal commission to address utility companies that fail to lower their rates proportionally to the tax decrease.

“Unless the Commission adjusts the Public Utilities’ revenue requirements to reflect this federal corporate income tax reduction, utility customers nationwide will be overpaying for their electric and gas service by hundreds of millions of dollars,” the letter reads.

“Helping Texans and others around the country by reducing household utility bills is an example of the immediate and positive impact of the president’s tax reform plan,” Paxton said in a news release. “Thanks to the new law, prices will come down and consumers will have more money in their pockets, just as companies are raising wages, paying bonuses, and hiring more workers.”