The Original Dallas Light Company
Many people consider Oncor Electric to be the Light company of Dallas. Oncor (formerly part of TXU Energy) is the poles and wires company that maintains the distribution infrastructure that keeps the lights on in Dallas, Fort Worth and most of North Texas.
At one point TXU energy was the “Light Company” for the Dallas Fort Worth area. TXU was a vertically aligned Electricity Utility. (They owned Generation, Transmission and Retail Sales) In 1999 Texas deregulated the electricity market, in effect separating TXU energy into three operating groups with “walls” between each operating unit: TXU retail energy, TXU Distribution and TXU Power (Generation). In 2007 TXU was purchased in the largest (at the time) private equity buyout and re-named Energy Future Holdings (EFH). TXU Power was renamed Luminant Energy, TXU Distribution was re-named Oncor and TXU Energy (Retail) retained its name. In 2014 EFH saddled with debt due to a bad bet on coal in the age of natural gas fracking went bankrupt, eventually emerged as Texas Competitive Electric Holdings and in 2016 changed its name to Vistra Energy.
Deregulation In Dallas
Deregulation changed The way we buy Electricity In Dallas. The advent of deregulation, allowed customers to comparison shop for their electricity from any licensed supplier. Within a matter of years dozens of competitive suppliers and providers offered rates, plans and programs that offered savings, incentives and value add products to entice customers. By 2018 roughly 96% of Texans had switched providers at least once.