Commission approves Texas Gas Service resolutions

The city’s Resource Management Commission has approved two resolutions asking City Council to lower or eliminate certain rebates for gas appliances. On a vote of 7-2, the commission approved recommendations authored by the commission’s vice chair, Paul Robbins. The first resolution advises that Council should lower or eliminate certain rebates because they are inconsistent with rebates paid by other utilities throughout the nation. For example, commissioners recommended that the city eliminate payments for clothes dryer connections and lower rebates for tankless water heaters, furnaces and dryers. The city could reallocate some of the money currently going into rebates by assisting low-income customers. The commission recommended that Council approve a pilot program for such customers.

The commission also approved a second resolution related to state oversight of Texas Gas Service’s energy conservation programs. In the past, the city has regulated such programs, but recent legislation puts that into the hands of the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state agency that regulates the massive oil and gas industry. Commissioners voted to ask the Council to seek a waiver from the Railroad Commission allowing Austin to maintain its regulatory control.