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 the utility, 34,008 customers are currently enrolled in the program. There were 35,540 last July, […]
Austin Energy
As a municipally-owned electric utility, Austin Energy is a rarity in the largely deregulated State of Texas. Its annual budget clocks in at over $1 billion. The utility’s annual direct transfer of a Council-determined percentage of its revenues offers the city a notable revenue stream.
Posted inCity Hall
Report: Ex-AE employee misused city resources, lied to auditors
An investigation by the Office of the City Auditor found that a former utility accounts specialist at Austin Energy misused his city computer and email to benefit his secondary employment and failed to do work assigned to him, forcing the utility to use other employees to do that work. John Harnsberry, the former employee, “was […]
Posted inEnergy
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 37,800 customers who lost power during Friday night’s intense thunderstorm, he said, addressing Council at […]
Posted inCity Hall
Investigation finds theft and resale at Austin Energy
A city investigation has found that an employee stole and sold more than $130,000 worth of items from Austin Energy. A letter from Rodney Stockton’s attorney, Rick Cofer, clarified that Stockton does not admit responsibility for all of the missing items. In his letter of resignation, Stockton confessed that he had stolen two nitrogen oxide analyzers […]
Posted inCity Hall
City looks to mitigate wildfire hazards caused by Winter Storm Uri
Some tree trimmings from power restoration efforts during Winter Storm Uri are still on the ground nearly two months after the storm, creating a potential wildfire hazard as wildfire season approaches. Though trimmings in residential areas have been mostly picked up, trimmings under Austin Energy transmission lines in undeveloped areas have not. “Nobody seems to […]
Posted inEnergy
‘We did the best we could’: Commissioners evaluate Austin Energy’s winter storm response
At a special called joint meeting Monday, commissioners from the Electric Utility and Resource Management commissions praised Austin Energy’s response to last month’s winter storm that left hundreds of thousands of people without power for days. Commissioners also offered ideas on how the utility could improve if a similar scenario were to occur again. Resource […]
Posted inEnergy
AE chief apologizes for hardships caused by storm
Austin Energy General Manager Jackie Sargent apologized to the community during Wednesday’s AE Utility Oversight Committee meeting for the suffering and hardships experienced during Winter Storm Uri as a result of electric system outages. Even though the outages were ordered by the state grid operator, ERCOT, Sargent said Austin Energy would work to do a […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin utilities work to help those hit by storm
The wake of winter storm Uri brought recriminations, finger-pointing and at least one major utility bankruptcy, not to mention the sky-high prices charged to many Texas utility customers. Meanwhile, at Austin Energy, officials have been spending their time trying to figure out how to help their customers. Thursday’s City Council agenda includes items directing Austin […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy customers need not worry about skyrocketing bills
Austin Energy customers, like the customers of other utilities throughout the state, experienced power outages and water shortages caused by winter storm Uri. But unlike customers of other utilities, Austin Energy customers will not be facing a huge spike in their electric bills as a result. Austin Energy spokesperson Jennifer Herber points out that customers […]
Posted inEnergy
Just before the storms, Austin Energy gave Covid relief update
Before winter storm Uri wrought devastation and widespread power outages, Austin Energy was focused on the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its accompanying economic damage. In April of last year, City Council approved measures collectively providing $46 million in utility bill relief for qualifying Austin residents. The plan was to end the new program in September. […]
Posted inCity Council
City’s power, water committees begin looking at post-storm improvements
City Council members closely tied to Austin’s energy and water utilities have started mapping out their priorities for determining what led to this week’s massive infrastructure failures and what can be done in the future to prevent hundreds of thousands of residents from losing basic services for days at a time. Council Member Leslie Pool […]
Posted inAustin
With energy, water recovery slow, Austin leaders look for answers
With the city’s energy and water utility systems vastly over capacity, local leaders are pushing for immediate solutions to improve residents’ safety and looking at how the state can prevent a similar statewide failure in the future. As of Wednesday night, Austin Energy had restored power to 16 grids that had gone days without power, […]