Keeping the lights on should be a simple, predictable part of monthly expenses for any Texas family or small business owner. But when your local city hall operates a municipal utility monopoly and runs it into a massive financial deficit, it is the captive local consumer who pays the price. Residents of Georgetown, Texas, are finding this out the hard way, as city officials have just cleared the path to make their electric bills significantly more expensive.
On August 11, 2026, the Georgetown City Council officially approved on first reading an ordinance amending Chapter 13.04 of the Code of Ordinances to increase municipal electric rates and modify fees across various customer classes. This newly approved rate hike is a desperate attempt to address the municipally owned utility's long-term financial deficits. Because the City of Georgetown operates as a municipal utility monopoly, local residents and businesses do not have the freedom to choose their own retail electric providers. This rate hike represents an arbitrary and unfair burden on economic liberty, forcing small business owners and homeowners to subsidize the city's poor utility management and financial incompetence.
This rate hike is a direct action of the Georgetown City Council, demonstrating how municipal utility monopolies exploit their captive customer base to cover up public sector deficits. In a free market, a power company that mismanaged its funds and tried to hike rates would lose customers to competitors. But under Georgetown's municipal monopoly, citizens are forced to pay whatever rates the local government decrees, with absolutely no opportunity to take their business elsewhere.
This arbitrary rate hike is another example of how municipal governments use their monopoly powers to impose financial burdens on citizens without market alternatives. Under free-market principles, property owners and consumers should have the right to contract freely and choose their service providers. Georgetown's electric rate hike represents an abuse of municipal authority, where the city uses its monopoly power to restrict economic choices and squeeze property owners.
The financial strain of this electric rate hike will be felt immediately across Georgetown. Local small businesses, which already operate on razor-thin margins, will see their overhead costs increase, forcing them to either raise prices on consumers or cut back on hiring. Meanwhile, families will see a direct increase in their cost of living, leaving them with less money for other essential needs. This rate hike exposes the structural flaws of municipally owned utilities, where public officials are insulated from market competition and can simply raise rates on captive customers whenever they mismanage their budgets. True utility reform requires exposing these monopolies and introducing market competition so that consumers can enjoy the benefits of choice and lower rates.