Shudde Fath, the legendary advocate for ratepayers, wants Austin Energy to change the way it charges certain small businesses for their electricity. In a January letter to Mayor Steve Adler and City Council members, the longtime member of the Electric Utility Commission wrote that she hoped that the utility would roll back a change from […]
Energy
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Austin Energy struggles to fill vacancies with outdated hiring process
Facing a wave of retirement over the next three to five years, Austin Energy urgently needs to revamp its hiring approach, staff told the Electric Utility Commission at its March 20 meeting. “We do very passive recruiting here,” said Chief Financial Officer Mark Dombroski at the meeting. “We need to change that. We need to […]
Posted inEnergy
Holly Power Plant to be officially decommissioned in August, staff reports
Remnants of the Holly Street Power Plant still stand in East Austin, bitter reminders of a facility that spread pollution to nearby residents, but Austin Energy staff assured the Electric Utility Commission at its March 20 meeting that the decommissioning would end in August of this year. The update was prompted by testimony from Gavino […]
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Austin Energy makes good on energy efficiency goals
Austin Energy officials say the city-owned utility is making good on a lot of the ambitious energy efficiency goals set out for it in the Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan approved by City Council in December 2014. Thirty-one percent of the energy Austinites consume now comes from renewable sources, up from 25 percent when […]
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LCRA defends wind power divestment decision
The Lower Colorado River Authority is responding to pushback against its decision to end a $360 million contract to take power from the Papalote Creek Wind Farm. On Dec. 2, the LCRA sent out an email to its employees laying out the reasons for the decision, which has sparked litigation from both Papalote and the […]
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Oversight committee discusses making city carbon-free by 2030
“Can Austin be a carbon-free energy city by 2030?” was one of the more prominent questions up for debate Wednesday as the City Council’s Energy Utility Oversight Committee got its first update on the 10-year road map for Austin Energy’s resource needs and climate protection objectives. The discussion came during a presentation from Khalil Shalabi, […]
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Task force to update Austin Energy’s environmental plans
Austin Energy is gearing up for another update to the “Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2025,” the document first approved by City Council in 2007 that outlines how the city-owned utility intends to change in the coming years to reduce pollution and greenhouse emissions while delivering affordable and reliable electricity to […]
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Austin Energy gears up for smarter smart meters
Nearly a decade after rolling out smart meters for all of its electric customers, Austin Energy is planning another citywide meter upgrade. At a Monday meeting of the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee, AE General Manager Jackie Sargent told City Council members that the utility would ask Council next month to approve a $29.1 million […]
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Council approves new electricity rates
City Council voted unanimously Monday to adopt a new set of electricity rates for residents and businesses served by Austin Energy, the city-owned utility. The vote was the culmination of an eight-month process, starting with a rate proposal submitted by the utility in January, followed by months of back and forth between AE and more […]
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Austin Energy agrees to start planning coal plant retirement
Two key environmental groups announced their support Thursday for a settlement to the Austin Energy rate review, the public process the city goes through periodically before setting new electricity rates for the city-owned utility’s commercial and residential customers. Sierra Club and Public Citizen, which had acted as joint intervenors in the rate review, said they […]
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Austin Energy gradually reforms Customer Assistance Program
For nearly two years, Paul Robbins, a longtime environmental and consumer activist, has been hounding Austin Energy about its operation of the Customer Assistance Program, which is intended to give energy discounts to low-income households. Robbins, who earns groans as well as grudging respect from AE, contends that the utility is spending hundreds of thousands, […]
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Austin Energy agrees to rate deal with businesses, consumer advocates
Eighteen of the 26 advocacy groups, businesses and individuals who signed up to intervene in the ongoing Austin Energy rate review have signaled support for a compromise with the utility. The deal would lower electricity rates for both residential customers and businesses for the next five years. Thomas Brocato, an outside legal counsel for Austin […]