Got Mad, Got Even

Until that happens, they will continue to fight HL&P and refuse to sign the agreement. If they do get a hearing and win further concessions resulting from HL&P's mismanagement of STP, Harris County ratepayers could be paying a different rate than those who live in the city of Houston. Pace has accused the company of mismanagement in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Houston Industries shareholders, who have seen their stock drop from a high of nearly $49.50 to just under $40 a share.

Pace acknowledges there is a certain satisfaction in facing down his former employer's battery of lawyers. But the best satisfaction, he says, came from a phone call he received from an elderly lady thanking him for initiating the rate case. She said the rate reduction, when it is approved, would enable her to buy prescription medications she has had to forgo.

So why did it take two citizens to initiate a rate case that the city of Houston might have started?

"We're still waiting for an answer to that one," says Williams.
Published:Remarks attributed to Houston Industries chairman and chief officer Don Jordan in the March 23 Houston Press were contained in a draft copy of a speech prepared for Jordan's appearances at a January conference of management personnel of Houston Industries, the parent company of Houston Lighting & Power. Jordan did not make the remarks during his two speeches at the conference.