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UT Tyler to See Cost Savings From TXU Refund

In the midst of state-mandated budget cuts, The University of Texas at Tyler is one of five UT System components to reap cost savings from a reversal of TXU Energy fuel surcharges amounting to more than $1 million.

Of the total amount, UT Tyler will receive $29,011 in credits on upcoming electric bills.

The credits are the result of a yearlong collaborative effort between the UT System Office of Facilities, Planning and Construction and UT Tyler Physical Plant Department to account for discrepancies found in electric utility billings sent to UT Tyler since the inception of electric deregulation in the State of Texas. It was determined that UT Tyler, and the other components, mistakenly were not receiving the education discount.

“Once the State of Texas deregulated electricity, we noticed that we were being billed incorrectly, as a market customer, as opposed to the discounted rate for universities under the Utilities Code, Section 36.351,” said Chip Clark, UT Tyler director of physical plant services.

“The provision states the electric service provider shall continue to provide a total rate that is no higher than the rate provided to the university on December 31, 2001. This rate is protected under law until September 1, 2007. We opted to remain on the discounted rate until we could aggregate with other UT System components to purchase electricity in bulk. When billing irregularities could not be reconciled with the provider we consulted UT System OFPC for support.”

Using this information, UT System Office of General Counsel, working with the Attorney General of Texas, negotiated the settlement with TXU Energy. The amounts awarded reverse a 0.2813 cent/kWh fuel surcharge for primary service mistakenly charged by TXU Energy from January 1, 2002 though March 2003.

“UT Tyler could easily have just paid the bill, but we chose to dispute the issue. This was a team effort between UT Tyler and UT System OFPC, OGC and the Office of the Attorney General to keep pressing the issue, and it took a lot of time and energy to get a resolution. But we felt that in keeping with President Mabry’s leadership and standard of quality services we needed to keep going,” Clark added.

The amount credited is helpful to the university as it continues to address cuts to the upcoming fiscal year budget.

“The university has implemented energy conservation methods that will help cut costs, and this credit will certainly help. Even though this wasn’t the driving factor behind our pursuit of the issue, it’s coming at a good time,” said Clark.

Other UT component institutions receiving credits include UT Health Center at Tyler, UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, UT Arlington, UT Dallas and UT Permian Basin.

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Contact person: Emily Battle, (903) 565-5604