NextEra Energy Inc., the company that failed to convince Hawaii regulators that its $4.3 billion bid to buy Hawaii’s dominant utility was in the public interest, has struck out for a second time in Texas.

Nine months after the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission rejected the Florida-based company, the Texas Public Utility Commission denied NextEra’s $18 billion bid to buy Dallas-based Oncor Electric Delivery Co. In a unanimous 3-0 vote, the Texas PUC killed the sale last week. Texas regulators cited concerns with NextEra refusing to create a fully independent board of directors for the utility and lack of tangible benefits to ratepayers.

“NextEra Energy ownership of Oncor would subject Oncor and its ratepayers to significant new risks. The tangible benefits to Texas ratepayers that are specific to the proposed transactions are minimal, and would do little to compensate ratepayers for any of the additional risks imposed,” the Texas PUC’s April 12 order said.

Oncor is the largest regulated electrical transmission and distribution service provider in Texas, serving 10 million customers across the state. NextEra has not given up on its purchase of Oncor. The Wall Street Journal reported NextEra counsel told a judge the company is still trying to revive the deal.

Similar to promises made during its 19-month campaign to buy Hawaiian Electric Industries, NextEra said there would be no involuntary workforce reductions at Oncor for two years. The Texas PUC said the only tangible benefit offered by NextEra was a commitment to share 90 percent of the interest-rate savings on Oncor’s cost of debt between the close of the purchase and Oncor’s next rate case. This amounted to roughly $3.2 million credits a year for Texas ratepayers over the first four years after the close of the sale.

HEI runs the state’s largest utility, which provides power to 95 percent of Hawaii residents through its subsidiaries: Hawaiian Electric Co. on Oahu, Maui Electric Co. and Hawaii Electric Light Co. on the Big Island.

In Hawaii, NextEra had promised to save ratepayers $465 million, or about $70 per customer per year, over five years and to use its experience as one of the nation’s leading providers of solar and wind power to accelerate Hawaii’s move toward the goal of generating 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2045.

The Hawaii PUC rejected NextEra’s proposed purchase of HEI in July on a 2-0 vote. The panel said NextEra failed to show how its purchase of HEI would be in the public’s interest. The PUC also questioned NextEra’s commitment to achieve the state’s goal of generating 100 percent of Hawaii’s electric power from renewable sources by 2045.

Isaac Moriwake, an Earthjustice attorney in Hawaii, said the Texas PUC’s ruling mirrored the one issued by Hawaii’s regulators. Moriwake represented the Sierra Club as one of the groups opposed to NextEra’s purchase of HEI.

“The Oncor acquisition case reran the same arguments we hear in Hawaii, and Texas rejected it based on some of the same reasons, including the lack of adequate customer benefits, local control and protection against risks,” Moriwake said. “That said, we don’t need any validation from Texas to realize that rejecting NextEra’s takeover of HECO was 100 percent the right call for Hawaii.”

State Rep. Chris Lee (D, Kailua-Waimanalo), who opposed NextEra’s purchase of HEI, said the Texas ruling shows that a traditional centralized business model for an electricity utility is no longer in the best interest of its customers.

“Utility monopolies now face competition from solar and other providers, and the regulators have said repeatedly that competition should be embraced,” he said.