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Energy
Austin Energy seeks to bridge revenue gap through changes to service costs
Austin Energy customers can anticipate changes to their bills in the near future, as the utility gears up to revise its base rate charges by 2023. Russell Maenius, vice president of finance, and Tammy Cooper, vice president of communications, spoke…
Energy • By Kali Bramble • Apr 7, 2022
Auditors find few faults with utility bill assistance program
Austin Energy, which manages billings for city utility customers, provides reduced utility bills for more than 35,000 electric, water and wastewater customers with low incomes. The Customer Assistance Program offers discounts that average about $650 a year for residential customers…
Energy • By Jo Clifton • Feb 28, 2022
Texas Railroad Commission takes a step toward safeguarding some energy infrastructure
On Tuesday, one day before a state-mandated deadline, regulators at the Railroad Commission of Texas approved a rule outlining which Texas natural gas suppliers need to be ready to operate during energy emergencies. The vote begins to address a weak…
Energy • By Mose Buchele, KUT • Dec 3, 2021
Austin Energy's REACH program falls behind its carbon emissions goals
Austin Energy announced last week that it is significantly behind its goals for reducing carbon emissions this year, citing operational and market factors. While the utility hopes to make up some of the gap between now and the end of the…
Energy • By Willow Higgins • Nov 19, 2021
Consumer advocate angry about elimination of hearing
Paul Robbins, a longtime advocate for energy conservation and a critic of various utility providers, including Texas Gas Service, had been planning for months to testify before City Council in a Nov. 18 hearing on the company’s conservation program. So…
Energy • By Jo Clifton • Nov 4, 2021
Austin will keep running Fayette coal power plant, missing key climate goal
Austin Energy will not retire its stake in the Fayette coal power plant next year, the publicly owned electric utility announced Monday. Shutting down its portion of the plant by 2022 had been a key part of the city’s climate…
Energy • By Mose Buchele, KUT • Nov 2, 2021
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In the wake of Uri, solar battery sales soar
Seven months after Winter Storm Uri caused the deaths of more than 200 people around Texas and left millions without power, demand for solar power and home battery systems has skyrocketed. Austin Energy has received more requests for solar panel…
Energy • By Eniola Longe • Oct 8, 2021
For most of Texas, this summer was extreme ... extremely mild
This summer the West Coast burned, the Midwest baked and states from Louisiana to New York flooded, but the weather in Texas was pretty OK, actually? After enduring a historic winter storm and statewide power failure this February, Texas got…
Energy • By Mose Buchele, KUT • Sep 7, 2021
Auditors to look at Austin Energy's customer assistance program
Three members of the City Council Audit & Finance Committee want City Auditor Corrie Stokes to look into whether an Austin Energy program that offers bill relief to utility customers is helping the right people. According to a spokesperson for…
Energy • By Jo Clifton • Aug 20, 2021
Legislators respond to winter storm with new requirements for energy providers
The Electric Utility Commission received an update last week on legislative action related to electric utilities, with Senate Bill 3 serving as the omnibus response bill to Winter Storm Uri in mid-February. SB 3, approved at the close of the…
Energy • By Amy Smith • Jul 19, 2021
Austin Energy leader insists utility is resilient
While Sidney Jackson, Austin Energy’s deputy general manager and COO, told City Council the “system is resilient,” utility customers who went without power for three days might disagree. By Saturday night, power had been restored to 88 percent of the…
Energy • By Jo Clifton • Jun 2, 2021
Gas companies seek interim rate hikes
The three companies that supply natural gas to Austin residential and commercial customers are each seeking a rate increase under the Gas Reliability Infrastructure Program, or GRIP. City Council acted on April 8 and again on Thursday to temporarily suspend…
