Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa told outlet Texas Tribune that within an hour of taking the oath of office, she would declare a high-cost emergency in the state and issue an emergency executive order to freeze electricity rates, reported The Texas Tribune.
According to Fox News, some are concerned such a freeze would clash with Texas' uniquely competitive energy sector, which relies heavily on free-market choice.
Larry Behrens, communications director of Power the Future, says it's been tried before and didn't work.
"I think it's a talking point that is not based in reality, which is not unusual for people who don't understand energy. The fact of the matter is anyone who looks at some history — relative recent history in the 1990s — they'll see that California already ran this, and it ended with blackouts and bankruptcy," Behrens says.
When this was done 30 years ago, he points out that the prices spiked only a few years later.
"And so, they had to buy power at sky prices and sell it at the frozen price, and it didn't really workout. If she (Hinojosa) wants to bring California energy policy to Texas, we already know how that story ends," Behrens states.
Talking about the fallout of a freeze in rates, he notes there would be legal pushback.
"Generators still have to pay for fuel. They still have to pay for labor. Does that mean you're freezing labor costs, too, on the people making that fuel? Or does that mean they're allowed to freeze costs on equipment?" Behrens questions. "Imagine any type of private sector business where some government came in and said you can only sell it this much."
He comments that socialism has failed everywhere it's been tried.
"It really doesn't work out because there are other costs that go into these products, and what it really does is it delivers scarcity. It doesn't deliver cheaper energy," Behrens explains.
He says the U.K. tried this, resulting in 28 of their suppliers collapsing and customers being billed more money to clean up the mess.
