Stories by Kali Bramble
Still more questions than answers approaching Austin Energy rate case vote
City Council appears far from resolved heading into today’s vote on Austin Energy base rates, leaving last Tuesday’s work session with the case’s biggest questions still unanswered. On the top of the list is the issue of revenue requirement, with…
Energy • By Kali Bramble • Dec 1, 2022
Council weighs options for 2023 Austin Energy rates
With just a month before holiday break, City Council is fighting to resolve significant disagreements among stakeholders, outside counsel and Austin Energy on changes to utility base rates effective 2023. Council began this round of deliberations with the final recommendation…
Energy • By Kali Bramble • Nov 22, 2022
Austin Energy rate case participants band together behind alternative proposal
The race for City Council’s blessing on 2023 electric rates is heating up, as parties in the Austin Energy base rate review case announced their own counter-settlement to the utility’s proposed rate design. The independent consumer advocate, John Coffman, along with…
Energy • By Kali Bramble • Nov 15, 2022
Council to curtail increases to energy bills, but by how much?
City Council members have their work cut out for them this month, with the first of six work sessions leaving a lot of ground to cover before their vote on Austin Energy base rates for 2023. With the independent hearing…
Energy • By Kali Bramble • Nov 8, 2022
Draft recommendation suggests EUC will push back on Austin Energy rate case
With the end of the year steadily approaching, schedules are packed and the city is at full throttle preparing for a ruling on Austin Energy’s controversial rate review case. Last week, the Electric Utility Commission spent its meeting deliberating a…
Energy • By Kali Bramble • Oct 25, 2022
Council opts to make Austin a friendlier place for backyard chickens
Chicken enthusiasts have cause for celebration, as a proposal to loosen setback regulations for chicken coops passed last week on City Council’s consent agenda. The move stems from a collaboration between the Public Health Department and the Office of Sustainability,…
City Council • By Kali Bramble • Oct 21, 2022
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Council considers overnight concrete pour exceptions for South Congress HEB project
Among last week’s packed agenda, City Council debated a resolution that would grant the HEB redevelopment at Oltorf & South Congress a permit to pour concrete overnight. The project, which aims to open a new grocery by 2024, has the distinct…
City Council • By Kali Bramble • Oct 18, 2022
Unpermitted demolition stokes existential crisis at Historic Landmark Commission
Frustration was palpable at last week’s meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission, with yet another unpermitted demolition garnering little fanfare outside the Historic Preservation Office. The vacant lot at 4008 N. Lamar, once home to a 1926 residence converted for…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Oct 13, 2022
Landmark commission makes no exceptions for sign standards on Congress Avenue
Austin-based health care provider Curative will have to rethink its storefront design thanks to the Historic Landmark Commission, which unanimously voted last week to reject signage for the startup’s flagship clinic on Congress Avenue. The rejected proposal would have rendered…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Oct 11, 2022
Fairmont Hotel financiers take a second shot at historic home relocation
After six years of thwarted negotiations, Manchester Financial Group is still eyeing 606 and 608 E. Third St., a site just blocks from the Austin Convention Center and dead center of downtown’s burgeoning Palm District. But first, the Fairmont Hotel…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Oct 7, 2022
Six weeks out from controversial base rate review hearings, Austin Energy proposes yet another rate hike
Despite the welcome relief of cooler temperatures, there appears to be no end in sight for Austin Energy’s woes, as the utility tackles yet another unpopular rate change. As the base rate review case approaches City Hall, Austin Energy has…
Energy • By Kali Bramble • Oct 4, 2022
Workers demand labor protections at Austin Energy base rate rally
It was an unusually lively morning outside Austin Energy Headquarters last Saturday, as a coalition of workers, environmentalists and community leaders gathered to air their grievances with the publicly owned utility. With a potential increase to residential rates on the…
