The Castaneda Firm, an energy industry litigator, is representing a Houston-based energy trader in a suit taken directly to Austin’s Third Court of Appeals, alleging the Public Utility Commission violated the Administrative Procedures Act.

The lawsuit alleges the PUC approved and implemented an unpublished rule that creates artificial scarcity by paying electric power generators to hold back supply. The scarcity cost Texas consumers an additional $12 billion over the summer of 2023, the plaintiff alleges.