Published: August 20, 2008 10:09 am         

Candidate wants utility monopolies dissolved

A Republican candidate for the Indiana House believes utility monopolies in the state should be broken up.

Wes Culver of Goshen, who is running for the District 49 seat, said Indiana should follow the same path as Texas and discard the monopolies to foster competition. Culver indicated he would favor keeping a monopoly to operate the electric transmission lines.

The Texas legislature passed the deregulation act in 2002 and the deregulation has been phased in. Municipal and co-operative systems have the option to join in the deregulation. Few have.

In Texas, consumers can choose which electric provider to purchase power from.

The deregulation plan was one of eight points Culver made Tuesday while addressing a room full of enthusiastic supporters wearing Wes Culver T-shirts at the Goshen Public Library.

Culver’s other proposals are:

• Create schools of energy at state universities to allow students to study how to better provide the country’s energy supplies.

• Tied to that concept is the creation of energy business incubators near the universities. Those incubators would serve recent graduates from the university who want to open businesses.

• Place $5 million in state funds into a low-interest loan fund for energy-based start-up companies. Culver said the $5 million could be provided by stopping “waste and fraud” in the welfare, Medicaid and Medicare programs in Indiana.

• Eliminate the 10 kilowatt limit that private wind powered generation stations can sell back to utility companies. Culver said the state’s farmers would be more likely to put install more wind generation plants if the limit is lifted.

“This would lower their energy bill, and ours,” he said.

• Give state tax credits to homeowners who have “zero energy” homes. That means if a home produces more energy than it uses, a tax credit would be granted.

• Adopt a sales tax holiday for American made, energy efficient appliances purchased to replace existing home appliances.

“Currently there is no tangible reward for saving energy in your home,” Culver said.

• Create a bi-partisan think tank that would study “best practices” in energy policies from other states and nations and offer ideas on what should be done in Indiana.

Culver said his goal is to make Indiana the leader in energy technology.

Culver said he will be making more proposals in the coming weeks. He will face independent Vince Turner of Goshen in the November election.