Why is Austin Energy spending so much less on its weatherization program than in the past? The answer depends on whom you ask. In the 2017 fiscal year, the utility spent $1.6 million on a long-standing program that offers free weatherization upgrades to apartment buildings with a significant number of low-income tenants. The following year, […]
Energy
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City electric water heating restrictions not plugged in to affordability, climate reality
The Joint Sustainability Committee is asking the city to reconsider an outdated prohibition on electric water heating as part of the upcoming code rewrite process. The committee passed a resolution Feb. 27 claiming the prohibition is a barrier to affordability and a constraint to the city’s energy goals. The resolution came out of an initial […]
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Austin Energy considers scams, rising home values in changes to assistance programs
The city-owned electric utility Austin Energy has been a national leader over the past 30 years in helping customers lower their electric bills through energy efficiency programs. In addition to helping customers of all income levels cut costs by reducing their energy consumption, AE provides discounted rates to low-income customers and has programs in place […]
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Austin Energy tries to encourage Austinites to buy electric cars
Last week, the city of Austin was awarded a coveted $2.5 million grant from a foundation funded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to pursue a number of environmental initiatives focused on energy efficiency and green transportation. While the Transportation Department will be using part of the grant to zero in on getting people […]
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Austin Energy’s new chief operations officer ‘proud’ of first-year results
At Austin Energy, successful operations begin with safety. With a growing city and a growing need for electric services, Austin Energy has begun to internally push its “Safety Starts With Me” campaign in an effort to reduce the number of injuries on the job and simultaneously increase the productivity of employees. “We are requiring each […]
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Austin Energy finishes the year with $50.5M in excess revenue, lower bills for customers
After weathering an erratic Electric Reliability Council of Texas market this summer, Austin Energy finished the year in a financially stable position with extra revenue that will be passed on to the public in the coming year. According to Mark Dombroski, chief financial officer at Austin Energy, who addressed the Electric Utility Commission at its […]
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As temperatures increase, investment in renewables is already shaving dollars off Austin utility bills
Despite summer 2018 being one of the hottest on record in Austin, energy prices did not spike with the temperature. Instead, energy costs for customers this summer were identical to those of summer 2017, even though temperatures were higher this year. Khalil Shalabi, Austin Energy’s vice president of strategy, technology and markets, explained the phenomenon […]
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Austin Energy: Storage is the next hurdle to Austin’s renewable energy plan
The big conundrum facing energy utilities today is how to balance supply and demand for every second of every day. Although there are debates around the subject, the answer, albeit simple, seems to lie with storage. In the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan there is a section that outlines the utility’s commitment […]
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AE seeks code change to support fast car charging
Austin Energy estimates that there were 5,873 electric plug-in vehicles in its service territory as of Sept. 30. Karl Popham, AE’s manager for electric vehicles and emerging technologies, told City Council during Tuesday’s work session that about 85 percent of those vehicles’ owners do their charging at home and most of that is done at […]
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Austin Energy proposes local solar farm
In spite of the tremendous appetite for renewable energy in Austin, the city doesn’t offer many opportunities to build the kind of large-scale wind and solar farms necessary to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. “It’s an issue of land,” explained Khalil Shalabi, vice president of strategy, technology and markets for Austin Energy. “Land is expensive. […]
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An update on the Fayette Power Plant reveals no news, inspires working group
Almost five years ago, Council recommended that Austin Energy retire its portion of the Fayette Power Plant, which is run on coal, by 2022. Despite intense pressure from environmentalists to move that date up, the city utility is sticking to their plans for retirement on that date. However, the path forward toward retirement remains clear. […]
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EUC recommends code amendment to expand electric vehicle use
Soon Austin may have as many electric charging stations as gas stations. Currently, city code does not allow for the resale of city energy by third-party entities. However, the code was written before there was any inkling that electric vehicles would one day be rolling down the streets as everyday transportation. Now, seeing the possibilities […]