City Manager Marc Ott announced Thursday that he has hired Jacqueline Sargent, the general manager and CEO of the Platte River Power Authority in Fort Collins, Colorado, as general manager of Austin Energy. Sargent, 55, has nearly 30 years of experience in the electrical utility industry, including two years overseeing power supply and market operations […]
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 inEnergy
Consumer advocate: Austin Energy should lower rates for residents
Austin Energy should lower electricity rates for average Austinites, says the independent consumer advocate hired by the city to respond to the rates proposed by the city-owned utility. In testimony Monday to the Electric Utility Commission, Clarence Johnson, the expert witness for the consumer advocate team, said that residential customers and small businesses should get […]
Posted inEnergy
Some AE panelists reject all manager finalists
Three of eight members of an informal citizen advisory group that was created by Mayor Steve Adler and City Council members Leslie Pool and Sheri Gallo to weigh in on finalists for the Austin Energy general manager job have indicated that they would choose Jacqueline Sargent of the Platte River Power Authority in Fort Collins, […]
Posted inEnergy
Citizens panel to consider AE finalists
Eight more pairs of eyes will be scrutinizing the four finalists for general manager of Austin Energy in meetings scheduled for today. City Council members Leslie Pool and Sheri Gallo along with Mayor Steve Adler chose representatives from the community to serve on the Austin Energy community panel, with the approval of City Manager Marc […]
Posted inEnergy
Controversial pilot energy programs don’t make it far
Austin Energy planned to run three pilot programs this year aimed at finding new ways for the city’s ratepayers to pay for electricity, but so far those programs haven’t gained much traction. One of the programs was designed to test the employment of “time of use” rates. Under this system, customers would pay more for […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy has wire problems
Austin Energy’s poles are overcrowding. Providers of telephone, cable and internet services have a right under state law to attach their wires to city-owned utility poles (at a nominal $10 fee), but a dramatic increase in the number of attachments in the past five years has led to concerns about companies making improper attachments that […]
Posted inEnergy
Federal grant offers Austin chance to be leader in solar energy storage
Staff at Austin’s city-run utility is using millions of dollars of federal funds to explore new energy storage methods that will allow utility customers to receive more of their energy from renewable sources, particularly solar power. Austin Energy is one of six public and private entities to have received grants as part of the federal […]
Posted inEnergy
Expert outlines AE cost-of-service recovery options
As City Council deliberates over changing electricity rates, it is tasked not only with deciding how much to change rates for residential and commercial customers of the city-owned utility but with deciding whether the city should change the way it charges for power. On Monday, the Council Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee – which comprises […]
Posted inEnergy
23 groups get involved in Austin Energy rate review
Austin Energy is assuring the public that new electricity rates will be determined with plenty of input from stakeholders. Twenty-three individuals and groups representing the interests of various segments of the utility’s customer base have signed on as “intervenors” in the process, according to Mark Dreyfus, vice president of regulatory affairs and corporate communications for […]
Posted inUncategorized
County pulls plug on charging-station proposal, for now
A proposal involving an alternative to petrochemical-powered transportation lurched into a temporary ditch at Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday. County Judge Sarah Eckhardt postponed the vote on whether to install an electric-vehicle charging station at a county-owned parking lot after two commissioners voiced their opposition. The proposal’s controversy was somewhat belied by its relatively […]
Posted inEnergy
Recommendations aimed at reducing energy costs for poor move to Council
City Council is a step closer to acting on a series of recommendations made by a task force aimed at reducing energy costs for poor and near-poor Austinites. But Carol Biedrzycki, who chaired the Low Income Consumer Advisory Task Force and is a member of the Electric Utility Commission, says the recommendations that have been […]
Posted inBudget
Council explores reducing transfers from utilities
Members of City Council moved ahead Thursday on two initiatives aimed at scrutinizing the role that Austin’s two public utilities play in funding basic city services. Early in the day, the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee, which is composed of every member of Council, voted to adopt a resolution asking city staff to assess the […]