Who Gets to Choose and Why

When tornadic winds knocked down the electrical poles along Wynn Joyce Road recently, hundreds of homes in the area were in the dark, without any electrical power for as many as four days. The nine homes on our cul de sac were among those without electricity, while homes just across the road had their power restored within a few hours .  We learned that those whose power were restored so quickly were not GP&L customers. We, on the other hand, are GP&L customers and have no other options.

That situation gave way to many questions. We would like to know who some of us have no choice but to use GP&L, while others are able to choose among com competitors. Our subdivision was constructed in the 70’s, who we thought perhaps older homes were locked into GP&L, but we soon found out that was not the case.

According to local officials we questioned, the grid was formed by ERCOT in accordance with legal parameters set forth by the State of Texas. That doesn’t exactly answer our question, so we’ll keep digging.