A legendary Texas oil family is at the center of a public hearing underway in Austin. The Hunt family wants state approval for taking control of a utility company.

Among the families that for decades dominated the Texas oil business, the Hunt family of Dallas remains among the most successful. Forbes magazine ranks Ray Hunt as worth over $5 billion.

But now, he and his son Hunter are taking what Forbes calls, quote "a bit of a departure for this oil-soaked family". The Hunts have started an investment venture to buy Oncor, the big utility company that runs wires and poles across North Texas.

Oncor is owned by a company now in bankruptcy, Energy Future Holdings. It was formed in part by big, New York buy-out firms that had borrowed heavily to buy Oncor and its parent company TXU which sells power in the Houston area.

At a public hearing held by the Public Utility Commission of Texas which must approve the roughly $19 billion deal, there was a lot of opposition. Ann Coffin, an attorney with Gexas Energy, a Houston-based electricity provider, testified the deal might look like it puts Oncor back under the control of a Texas company but she said the majority of ownership would really be East Coast hedge funds that would once again create financial risk for a utility company millions of Texans depend on for electricity.

"Taken together we believe these facts confirm that the transaction as proposed is not in the public interest," Coffin told the PUC.

Hunter Hunt disagrees saying in an earlier statement: "We believe our proposed plan represents the best path forward for Oncor, its employees and the communities they serve."

The Public Utility Commission hearing is scheduled to last all week.

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