After 40 years of fighting for consumers and small businesses on Austin’s Electric Utility Commission, Shudde Fath this week announced her resignation. Fath, who is often referred to as the grande dame of Austin’s environmental movement, is 101 years old and was first appointed by Mayor Carole Keeton McClellan in 1977. In a letter to […]
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
City to lease Ben White space for DSD, AE
Last week, City Council authorized negotiation and execution of a seven-year lease for a little less than 60,000 square feet at 5202 E. Ben White Blvd. The building will house about 100 employees from Austin Energy and 93 employees from the Development Services Department. During the Sept. 26 work session, Council Member Alison Alter wanted […]
Posted inParks
Austin Energy to turn over Holly Power Plant site by December
The bitter reminder of decades of pollution that the Holly Street Power Plant presents to the residents of the Holly neighborhood will soon disappear. As of the Parks and Recreation Board meeting on Sept. 26, the plant is in its final phase of decommissioning before the land will be transferred from Austin Energy into the […]
Posted inEnergy
Utility fixing Customer Assistance Program
Last week, after City Council adopted the Fiscal Year 2017-18 budget, longtime Austin environmental advocate and Austin Energy critic Paul Robbins had something to celebrate. Robbins had been asking Council to reform Austin Energy’s Customer Assistance Program since 2014 and the new budget includes direction to do just that. Starting in 2014, Robbins collected data […]
Posted inAustin
Austin helping cities hit by Hurricane Harvey
City Council unanimously approved mutual aid agreements with the cities of Houston and Victoria at a special called meeting on Tuesday in the wake of devastation from Hurricane Harvey. Mayor Steve Adler and Council members Leslie Pool and Greg Casar were attending to other business. As of Monday night, a city official said there were […]
Posted inAustin
City welcomes Harvey survivors, helps Houston
Mayor Steve Adler on Monday sent out a message of welcome to survivors of Hurricane Harvey seeking shelter in Austin. During a news conference at the Delco Center, the mayor said the state has asked Austin to take in 7,000 survivors from the Gulf Coast and Houston. Adler said the city is doing an assessment […]
Posted inEnergy
Council approves ambitious renewable energy goals
City Council overwhelmingly approved a plan Thursday that sets big goals for Austin Energy, the municipally owned electric utility, to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels over the next decade. The update to the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan builds upon the goals set when the plan was first approved in 2014 […]
Posted inCity Hall
Ethics complaint filed against ex-city employee
Nathan Wiebe, chief of investigations for the Office of the City Auditor, filed a complaint with the city’s Ethics Review Commission on Monday against a retired Austin Energy supervisor. In the complaint, Wiebe laid out a case against Stefan Sasko, who retired from his position as distribution electrician supervisor in January of this year. Wiebe […]
Posted inCity Hall
Second Austin Energy employee investigated
For the second time this month, the Office of the City Auditor has released a report alleging that an Austin Energy employee has misused his computer, email account and telephone to work on his secondary employment. According to an investigation report released Friday, Brent Curry, an information technology geospatial analyst who has worked for the […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin residents push for more aggressive energy goal
A number of concerned citizens gathered to speak at the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee meeting Monday morning to express their frustration with Austin Energy’s updated Resource, Generation, and Climate Protection Plan. While the updated plan, which was written by a 16-member working group organized by the Electric Utility Commission, suggests a goal for renewables […]
Posted inAustin
Animal Advisory Commission weighs Monk parakeet deal
Austin’s population of Monk parakeets has garnered a lot of attention over the past few weeks, with some questioning Austin Energy’s policy for removing the birds’ nests from power lines and utility structures in town. The Animal Advisory Commission heard from Elaina Ball at its June 12 meeting. Ball, who is the chief operating officer […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Don’t knock it, or try it
Delay Red River… When the Austin Monitor published a sneak peek in April of the findings of a close-to-complete draft of Urban Land Institute’s examination of the precarious state of the Red River Cultural District, one of the key findings was that the entertainment district was in its “11th hour” and in danger of being […]