It’s the last week of January, and the holiday break is officially over! In celebration, we invite you to join our ongoing effort to keep readers up to date with all that is going on at City Hall, by reading our tip sheet for Austin City Council committees. As usual, we will be offering highlights […]
Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee
The Austin City Council committee on Austin Energy was created in May 2013 to provide oversight of the city’s electric utility. It’s creation was marked by political maneuvering that ultimately resulted in a committee comprised of every member of the Austin City Council.
Posted inEnergy
Committee backs low-income energy savings ideas
Low-income Austin Energy customers may receive some additional help in lowering their bills in coming years, based on a recommendation that a City Council committee made on Thursday. The Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee, which consists of the full Council but does not take official action, recommended directing city staff at a future Council meeting […]
Posted inCity Hall
Talk with EUC chair ends consumer advocate bid
The city’s purchasing officer has disqualified the sole remaining bidder on a contract to act as the consumer advocate in Austin Energy’s upcoming rate review. City Purchasing Officer James Scarboro informed the mayor and City Council about the disqualification of Oxford Advisors LLC in a memo on Wednesday. According to the memo, “This disqualification is […]
Posted inPremium Types
TipSheet: This week’s Council committees
As part of our ongoing effort to keep readers up to date with all that is going on at City Hall, we present our tip sheet for Austin City Council committees. As usual, we will be offering highlights of meetings, with links to entire agendas. Health and Human Services Committee Monday, Nov. 30, 1 p.m. […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy committee considers new tariff
City Council appears to be moving closer to deciding how to charge Austin Energy’s two largest industrial customers, an issue it has grappled with since May. Convened as the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee, Council heard a presentation Thursday from utility staff on the proposed “P4” tariff, which would replace the long-term contracts that it […]
Posted inPremium Types
TipSheet: Austin City Council and Energy Utility Oversight Committee, 10.15.15
The Austin City Council will hold a brief, specially called meeting Thursday before the regular meeting of its Austin Energy Oversight Committee. In the interest of space and sense, we have combined the two meetings. The Office of the City Clerk has posted an agenda for the City Council meeting here and for the Austin […]
Posted inEnergy
Debate heats up over solar energy contracts
There is a solar energy tug-of-war taking place at City Hall. Amid calls from solar advocates for the city to quickly procure 600 megawatts of utility-scale solar energy, Austin Energy will propose to City Council at an Oct. 1 meeting that it take smaller steps and authorize 200 to 300 megawatts’ worth of solar contracts […]
Posted inEnergy
Council committee asks for ambitious solar plan
Solar advocates have scored a minor victory in their push for Austin to invest heavily in solar energy and to do it fast. The Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee recommended Thursday that City Council direct staff to bring a plan forward for Council consideration by October that would involve the city investing in 600 megawatts […]
Posted inPremium Types
TipSheet: Austin Energy Utility Oversight Commitee 8.27.15
This week, the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee will hold its monthly meeting. Unlike other committees, this one is a committee of the whole, so we’ve given it its own little tip sheet. Following the committee’s adjournment, City Council members convene to hold their last public budget hearing. Below are the Austin Energy items that […]
Posted inEnergy
City gears up for energy cost-of-service study
As the city prepares to study how much it costs to run Austin Energy in order to have new electric rates ready for the fall of next year, there are many questions ahead. City Council and staff discussed what the study process might look like in a June 25 meeting of the Austin Energy Utility […]
Posted inEnergy, Texas State Legislature
Council tentatively extends large energy contracts
Austin Energy is stuck between a rock and a hard place, with the rock being the Texas Legislature and the hard place being the utility’s exhausted reserve funds. City Council is now working to wriggle the municipal energy provider out of its predicament without serious damage. Acting essentially as Austin Energy’s board of directors, Council […]
Posted inEnergy, Texas State Legislature
Adler suggests changes to AE business model
Mayor Steve Adler says City Council members are open to shifting how Austin Energy makes its transfers to the city, a move that may quiet talk in the Texas Legislature of deregulating the municipal energy company. “There is some support of us to looking at a CPS (Energy) model where they handle their transfers in […]