With John Wilder's departure the question is who will become the next big daddy down Texas way.

Many are saying to watch the star of rising former Coke executive Jim Burke. Burke has a feel for commodities, gained while he was in the juice division of Minute Maid.

He sat down with me at an industry conference a year ago, in advance of the opening of Texas markets for retail competition. He did not sound too interested in taking the TXU brand out of Texas, saying the opportunities in his Lone Star state are more than enough for his enterprise. Read on, in EnergyBiz magazine.

Burke is in his late-30s, so he has staying power. That is more than can be said for the big wheels that engineered TXU's capture. They are likely to watch a big time tightening of generation resources in fast-growing Texas, watch the value of their newly purchased assets soar and then turn a new mega-deal in about five years. That will leave Burke positioned to play a role in determining how what-was-TXU addresses the mission of powering a good swath of Texas.

Jim Burke. John Wilder-to-be.