Tagged: Austin Energy

Two contentious public hearings should bring dozens of speakers to Austin City Hall today – and stretch out what might otherwise be an unremarkable meeting into an all-night affair.

First, the council is scheduled to hear comments on an ordinance about short term rentals. Austin’s Planning Commission recently proposed a suite of new regulations for owners of short-term rental homes, with one set of rules for Austinites sporadically renting out their homes for events like South by Southwest, and stricter guidelines for homes that are not owner-occupied and are rented out more often.

Secondly, the council is also holding a public hearing on proposed electric rate increases for Austin Energy customers.

The Austin City Council will discuss proposed rate hikes for Austin Energy in a work session today.

It’s the last work session before the council is scheduled to take possible action on the proposal.

Last week, council members agreed on a plan that would break the increases into five tiers – charging a higher rate for more electricity used.

Yesterday, the Austin City Council unanimously came out in favor of what is called a moderate plan for increasing Austin Energy electric rates – and against a potential discount to customers outside the city limits.  

The proposal would see an overall increase of seven percent, spaced over five years  – an effort to “spread the pain” of rising rates, as council member Bill Spelman put it.

“At this point it feels like it’s a little bit more an art than a science,” council member Laura Morrison said before council voted to adopt the moderate plan over other proposals. “And since we don’t have any one single, definitive reason to go in another direction. There’s so many different things that we’re trying to juggle.”

For all we know, our Austin City Council members – like most the rest of Austin – got in some rest and relaxation over Memorial Day.

Here's hoping they did, as despite the absence of a regular council meeting this Thursday, today brings two high profile work sessions on hot button topics: urban rail, and Austin Energy rates.

Urban rail is up first, at 9 a.m. Last week, the council received its first detailed briefing on funding schemes the city’s considering to pay for the first recommended phase of rail. That first phase would serve downtown, the Capitol Complex, the University of Texas, Hancock Center and the Mueller development.

Beginning of the End of Austin Energy Rate Hike Discussion?

The Austin City Council is meeting again today to talk about Austin Energy rates.

On Monday, three council members proposed a new plan for raising rates that they hope will bring a conclusion on the topic. Their plan would increase residential rates in five tiers based on how much energy is used. It would also adjust the proposed rate hikes for churches and schools.

The City Council has held 10 work sessions on Austin Energy rates since March 7. Members of the council have said they expect to have a final decision by late May or early June.

Is the long-deliberated redesign of Austin Energy electric rates coming to a close?

Three members of the Austin City Council – Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole, Chris Riley and Bill Spelman – seemingly hope so. The three held a press conference this morning to propose a new rate structure for the city utility, which they would like to take effect this fall.

“I wish we could wait another year or two before proposing higher electric rates, but we can’t,” said Spelman. While he admitted no one wants an increase in rates, the five-tier rate structure the group proposed – with rates increasing in amount as customers use more electricity – could allow for rates to be lowered in the future. For residential customers, the average rate increase will be reduced from 20 percent in the originally proposed plan to eight percent. A monthly fixed charge, originally proposed at $22, has been lowered to $10.

New Border Patrol Strategy Focuses on Intelligence

The U.S. Border Patrol unveiled a new plan for tightening America’s borders yesterday.

The 2012-2016 Border Patrol Strategic Plan includes tactics and technologies developed over the past few years like unmanned aircraft systems – aka, drones – but also more focus on preventing risk.

The past few years have been a period of unprecedented growth in resources for the Border Patrol. Right now, there are more law enforcement officers on the border – more than 21,000 – than at any time in Border Patrol history.

Last night's storm caused power outages to around 3,000 Austin Energy customers all over the city. North Central Austin was especially hard hit.

Austin Energy spokesperson Ed Clark says 17 crews worked overnight to restore energy. Six more crews focused just on tree trimming. Clark says fallen tree limbs were a big problem in last night's storm.

Crews made repairs at about 200 locations. Two power poles were toppled and lines fell at a dozen locations. Austin Energy expects power to be back up everywhere by mid-morning.

Bill Marcus, principal economist at California-based JBS Energy, will “serve as the City of Austin’s new consumer advocate in the Austin Energy rates process,” according to a statement from the utility. Marcus was named by City Manager Marc Ott following interviews with a total of five finalists.

Marcus has served in a similar role before, in the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s rate redesign process in the early 1990s, according to his bio on the JBS website. Marcus’ firm, JBS, characterizes itself as a “consulting firm specializing in economics, engineering and advocacy for energy producers and consumers … We work with energy consumers to reduce energy use and costs both at their individual facilities and for utility systems, and we analyze the equitable distribution of costs to utility customers.”