City attorney briefs Lewisville council on Texas electric and gas regulation, city role in utility coalitions

Thomas Mercado, a utilities attorney who has represented Lewisville and its predecessor clients for more than two decades, briefed the Lewisville City Council on state and regional regulation of electric and gas utilities and the practical role cities play in rate and reliability matters. Mercado explained the legal split between competitive generation and retail suppliers versus the ‘‘wires’’ companies that own transmission and distribution, and he described how cities retain original jurisdiction over local distribution service while the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and Railroad Commission have appellate or exclusive jurisdiction in some areas.

Why the briefing mattered, Mercado told council members, is ‘‘twofold: we want reasonable prices for our citizens, for our businesses, for our industry, and we want reliable service. We want the lights to be on when we flip the switch.’’ He outlined the historical arc from locally regulated, vertically integrated utilities to partial retail deregulation under SB 7 (1999) and the ongoing…