Texas PUC Staff Recommend Requiring Retail Provider Iberdrola Solutions To "Halt" Further Expansion In Would-Be Affiliate TNMP Service Area, As Condition Of Merger

March 2, 2021

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Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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This is a breaking news alert. Further details on Staff's testimony supporting its recommendations will follow

Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas filed testimony concerning the application of Texas-New Mexico Power for a merger with Avangrid

A witness for Staff addressing competitive market issues said that acquisition -- as currently proposed -- is not in the public interest.

See background on competitive market issues raised by the merger here

A witness for Staff recommended that the applicants provide two new commitments as part of the merger to address competitive concerns, as follows.

"Applicants' affiliated REP, Iberdola [sic] Solutions, should commit to halting further expansion in TNMP's service area," Staff's witness said

"In the last 18+ years, enormous strides have been made in the unbundling and elimination of affiliations of monopoly TDU services and competitive retail services. Growth in affiliated REP sales and customers in TNMP's service area is counter to and will reverse the hard work that has been done," Staff's witness said

Staff's witness also recommended that, "Applicants should commit to building no affiliated generation in TNMP's service area. This would impose little harm on Avangrid Renewables, while providing greater protection of competition in the generation market."

"These two new additional commitments will both accommodate the current ownership and operation of Avangrid's competitive affiliates and provide protections to competition going forward," Staff's witness said

As previously reported, while the structure of the market has generally moved away from TDUs having REP affiliates, the PUC in November 2020 granted Blue Star Energy, LLC, an affiliate of AEP Texas, an Option 1 Texas retail electric provider certificate (see story here)

Docket 51547

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