The city of Georgetown's lawsuit with the Lower Colorado River Authority was settled May 21, ending an appeal pendingbefore the Texas Supreme Court.
The settlement means that the city can now move forward and focus on serving our electric customers using market-priced electricity from a variety of [wholesale power] resources, city of Georgetown spokesman Keith Hutchinson said in a statement.
The citys attorneys filed an unopposed motion May 21 to dismiss the appeal.
The city is no longer purchasing power from LCRA butwill remain a transmission system customer, Hutchinson said.
A statement issued by LCRA said: The parties have reached an understanding and agreement that is in the best interests of the parties customers, members and ratepayers. This terminates the litigation and disputes between the parties.
Details of the settlement were not released.
LCRA filed a petition in Travis County District Court on July 18, 2012, in response to a breach of contract notice issued to LCRA on June 28, 2012, by seven utilities, including the city of Georgetown, Fayette Electric Cooperative Inc., Central Texas Electric Cooperative, the city of Seguin, Kerrville Public Utility Board, the city of Boerne and San Bernard Electric Cooperative Inc. Other electric utilities involved in litigation with LCRA includeNew Braunfels Utilities and the Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative.
Georgetown City Council authorized the breach of contract notice, alleging LCRA charged higher rates to electric utility customers that did not extend wholesale power agreements, according to a news release from the city. City Council gave notice to LCRA in June 2011 that it would not extend its agreement with the authority past 2016.
The cities of Seguin and Boerne have filed appeals with the Texas Supreme Court, which has requested briefs on the merits of the case, and the KPUB and NBU lawsuits are pending in Kerr County and Comal County, respectively, LCRA spokeswoman Clara Tuma said
The lawsuits involving the CTEC, SBEC, FEC and Georgetown are settled, pending a final disposition, and a lawsuit involving the GVEC has been settled and dismissed, Tuma said.