Protecting Texas’ electric grid shouldn’t jack up energy bills

Imagine you’re a kid starting a lemonade stand. You take on all the risk, using your allowance to buy lemons, sugar and plastic cups. You are prone to market variables, such as the lack of foot traffic from neighbors. Yet you soldier on, craft a somewhat persuasive but mostly adorable sales pitch, and sling enough cups to keep your piggy bank fat and happy for a while.

Then, a child from a wealthy family who lives down the street opens a competing lemonade stand. It uses more expensive lemons, a juicer, nicer cups and fancier signage. It doesn’t get as many customers but it doesn’t matter. The parents are paying for everything, so the wealthy kid needs to sell only a single cup to make a profit.

Not exactly a competitive market.