Audit finds Austin Energy falling behind on tree-trimming schedule

The Office of the City Auditor has found Austin Energy is far behind on its seven-year schedule of trimming trees and vegetation around power lines, with the utility’s current pace likely requiring 14 years to complete all needed clearing.

The audit, which was presented at Wednesday’s meeting of City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee, was called for after the February winter storm that resulted in massive power outages because of ice accumulation that collapsed branches and entire trees throughout the city.

The staff behind the audit found that difficulty hiring contractors to perform the trimmings and insufficient data management of its maintenance plan are among the reasons for Austin Energy’s slow pace on the seven-year cycle, which is already longer than industry norms of five years or less.

Among the audit’s recommendations was the creation of a maintenance plan with short-, medium- and long-term goals and a process to monitor the progress of those plans. The plan, auditors wrote, should also identify the resources needed to meet all stated timelines and goals.

The city switched to the seven-year cycle in 2006, in part as a result of many neighborhood associations calling for more involvement and communication on vegetation management priorities.

Another factor impacting the timelines is the three- to six-month delay caused by residents who object to Austin Energy’s plans to trim trees on their property that have a potential impact on utility lines.

“While it is laborious, I believe it’s a decent process. We’re taking the consumer and customers’ thoughts and feelings and emotions into the process, and I think we can still do it within the timeline that we need with the small population that we go to. So even though it bothers me overall, I think it’s a good process for our customers,” Elton Richards, Austin Energy’s vice president of electric system field operations, told the committee.

Richards also thanked the Council members on the committee for approving budget increase requests in recent years to help AE catch up on its vegetation management schedule, with funding for four new crews approved over the summer, though there has been a delay in onboarding some of those teams.

Bob Kahn, AE’s general manager, agreed with the audit’s findings and committed to getting the trimming work back on schedule. He said the utility continues to have difficulty finding contractors that can maintain the staffing needed to do the work required, even when offering bonuses of $5,000 to $10,000 for workers to stay on board for a year or more.

“We are having trouble with the contractors being able to hire the crews they need, and we are hiring as many crews as we can get, but right now we’re just playing catch-up and getting enough crews out there to do the work,” he said. “These are people that are making $15 an hour and they were still having trouble hiring people. I guess it gets back to the cost of living in Austin and I guess driving a long distance in to work.”

Council Member Alison Alter said Kahn, Richards and other AE leaders need to stay in regular contact with Council and staff on their progress and request more resources if needed to improve their pace and identify the most critical circuits that need attention.

“Where we’re falling short is we don’t have the data, we don’t have the information to be able to say how we’re doing on that long-term plan of getting there within the seven years,” she said. “If we’re tremendously off on our goal for the seven years, then we need to be relooking at what we’re doing and adjusting how it is that we are handling things.

“You need to be coming to us if there needs to be additional resources. At this point, those resources aren’t able to be deployed so that may not be the solution, but if we don’t make the 2028 goal, that’s a problem.”

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