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Wednesday,
November 3, 2004
Citizens put themselves at
helm of LP&L
BY D. LANCE LUNSFORD
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Lubbock voters put the fate of Lubbock Power & Light in their own
hands Tuesday night.
With 83 percent of voters in favor of moving
control of the power company into an Electric Utility
Board, Lubbock voters gave its City Council authority
to appoint a nine-member panel to run LP&L operations.
"I have to credit the citizens of Lubbock for
giving us a chance to do what we said we were going
to do," said District 3 Councilman Gary Boren, noting
the feasibility of allowing residents to control
government. "It's made of citizens, and citizens
know how to run things."
With all precincts reporting, 49,958 people voted
for the change with 10,224 voting against.
Those in favor of the move said it would give
closer scrutiny to LP&L's revenue while keeping
the city away from siphoning its reserves. The move
creates a buffer between utility finances and other
city accounts.
Running LP&L as a city department for several
years allowed city officials to use money generated
by LP&L for other purposes where funding had fallen
short — areas such as street lighting, park improvements
and street improvements.
When record high natural gas prices hit the nation
because of supply shortages, LP&L couldn't fund
itself, requiring staff cutbacks.
LP&L itself cut 60 jobs. Other city departments
cut back as well in order to draw money back into
LP&L's account.
As election returns came in Tuesday night, Boren
said he spent a few moments reflecting on the tumultuous
year and a half since the struggle to wrangle a
solution in the LP&L issue.
"You look at where it has gone. It's just a miracle,"
he said.
Lubbock's support of the break-off of LP&L will
allow the operation to run more like a business,
proponents claim. District 1 Councilwoman Linda
DeLeon said the people had spoken clearly.
"We're one of the first cities in the entire
state that has done this," said DeLeon, pointing
out her belief that many other cities will follow
Lubbock's lead.
Both Boren and DeLeon said they will start today
determining the makeup of the new board.
"I'll just put my thinking cap on and start thinking
of individuals that could do a great job of serving
the city on this committee."
Lubbock
Power and Light is a municipally owned entity of
the City of Lubbock that is separately governed
by an Electric Utility Board.
LP&L
has over two hundred employees working toward generating
and distributing electrical service for the citizens
of Lubbock, Texas.
LP&L
distributes over 85,000 monthly utility statements
for electric, water, sewer, solid waste and storm
water services.
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Friday,
October 29, 2010
City completes purchase of rival electric retail
assets
By Elliot Blackburn AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
With some ceremonial ink and
a few buttons pushed, city
officials sealed the purchase of
its retail electric competitor
and closed the door on decades
of competition.
City, Lubbock Power & Light
and Xcel Energy officials still
expressed some surprise almost a
year after first announcing the
deal that the municipal power
company had had completed the
purchase of rival retail
operations throughout most the
city.
As wire transfers were
completed and large, ceremonial
checks signed, officials among
the first in the region to know
of the planned purchase still
marveled that it came to pass.
“I don’t think that any of
us, when we started this plan,
thought we would be here today,
making this purchase,” said W.R.
Collier, LP&L board chairman who
helped see the power company
back from junk status in 2004.
The nearly $88 million
purchase, with another $6
million to $7 million in
associated fees and costs, ends
for Lubbock’s power company
retail competition throughout
most the city. Roughly 23,000
meters at more than 21,000
Lubbock addresses now transfer
to the municipal power company,
and more than 60 years of
competition between the
Southwest Public Service Company
and LP&L comes to a close.
“I am so, so proud for this
community that we’ve completed
this transfer,” Mayor Tom Martin
said.
LP&L will hold exclusive
rights to sell power throughout
most the city.
Another more than 11,000
customers will remain on the
South Plains Electric
Cooperative, a third company
with exclusive rights to sell
electricity in southern and
western pockets of Lubbock.
Carroll McDonald, a former
director both for SPS and LP&L
who attended Friday’s signing,
chuckled as he left the
ceremonies.
He never thought he would see
LP&L in such an exclusive
position, he said.
“No, I never thought I
would,” McDonald said. “But it’s
great. I think it’s wonderful.”
Xcel Energy does not leave
the city. Every watt powering
Lubbock homes and businesses
continues to come from the
company’s network of coal, gas
and wind power generators around
the Panhandle and in eastern New
Mexico.
Transmission lines throughout
the area remain under Xcel
ownership, as well as a
distribution center based in
West Lubbock, SPS President
Riley Hill said.
“We have dozens of employees
that will continue to live and
work in this community,” Hill
said.
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