TXU News Blog @newzblogz.com

The city of Bedford recently honored four public works employees for rescuing a TXU meter reader who was attacked by two loose dogs in Hurst.

The workers -- Chad Pittman, Rudy Ramos, Todd Rorie and Gerardo "G" Ramirez -- were cleaning debris from a creek near Bedford Court, on the border between the two cities, when they saw a pit bull and a mixed-breed dog attacking the meter reader, who had used up his repellent spray.

The workers hustled the meter reader into their truck until Hurst emergency personnel arrived.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

AUSTIN -- Consumer advocates on Thursday called for an investigation into several electric companies that may have violated rules requiring them to establish bill payment-assistance programs for low-income ratepayers.

The consumer groups said that documents filed publicly by the companies suggest they violated Public Utility Commission rules by not creating bill-assistance programs, or violated rules by soliciting funds to establish such programs, but then did not use the money for that purpose.

TXU was not among the electric companies in question, although several smaller companies appear to have fallen short of their commitments, said Randy Chapman, director of the Texas Legal Services Center, which called for the PUC investigation.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Exelon Corp. of Illinois, the nation's largest operator of nuclear power plants, said Thursday that it has selected two potential sites near the Texas Gulf Coast for a new reactor.

Three other companies, TXU Corp., NRG Energy and Amarillo Power, have also indicated interest in building nuclear facilities to meet what they say is growing electricity demand in Texas.

Exelon announced in September that it was considering a nuclear plant in Texas, where it owns natural gas-fired facilities in Fort Worth, Dallas and near Houston. The two sites it identified Thursday are a 1,250-acre tract in Matagorda County near Palacios, and 11,500 acres just south of Victoria, immediately to the west.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Does anyone on Wall Street remember Irving Fisher? Rosy prognostications from the securities industry's top dogs certainly bring the Yale economist to mind. In early October of 1929, Mr. Fisher confidently predicted stocks "reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." The market, of course, promptly crashed.

Mr. Fisher's mistake stemmed from his biases. Because he was fully invested in stocks himself, he was blinded to the risks of one of the greatest speculative bubbles in history. Despite the lessons of history, this natural instinct of human behavior has repeated itself often -- most recently in the millennial tech-stock bubble.

Irving Fisher might have said today, 'Subprime weakness is at a plateau.'

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Exelon Nuclear has selected two sites in southeastern Texas as possible locations for a new nuclear plant.

Illinois-based Exelon Nuclear, which operates the largest number of nuclear plants in the nation, said it is preparing a federal application that would allow construction and operation of a plant should the company decide to build one.

The primary prospective site is a tract about 10 miles south of Collegeport in Matagorda County. A secondary site is about 20 miles south of Victoria in Victoria County.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit