The average monthly electricity payment for consumers will decrease by $4.89 under Austin Energy’s anticipated budget for the 2025–2026 year. Customers with low incomes who participate in the Customer Assistance Program, or CAP, will typically experience a $7 reduction.
Members of the Electric Utility Commission on Monday declined to vote a resolution opposing Austin Energy’s planned increase in the monthly fee paid by the majority of customers, following a briefing on the utility’s strategy for raising income while lowering customer bills.
That fee, which is currently $15 per month, would increase to $16.20 per month with City Council approval. Cyrus Reed and Kaiba White, members of the Electric Utility Commission (EUC), put forth a resolution to maintain the present $15 monthly cost while raising it in accordance with electricity consumption. They maintained that the most effective method of lowering energy use is to increase the cost of electricity based on usage.
However, the utility believes that the best approach to sustain income is to raise the monthly price. Changes to the monthly cost won’t affect the low-income clients who participate in the CAP program because they don’t pay it.
Commissioners were informed by Austin Energy Chief Financial Officer Rusty Maenius that revenue adequacy was last experienced in 2019. 2020 saw the occurrence of COVID. The utility lowered rates and suspended cutoffs during the peak of the pandemic. He claimed that Austin Energy started subsisting on its savings at that time. He clarified that the majority of the utility’s expenses are set, particularly those related to payroll, equipment and power plant maintenance, new poles and wires,
Lisa Martin, the Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer, informed the panel that the company will still fall $43 million short in 2026 despite the suggested increase in the monthly price. According to her, Austin Energy is working to lower customer bills, but its expenses will keep rising. According to her, Austin Energy offers the most affordable prices among local utilities.
According to Reed and White’s resolution, the Electric Utility Commission acknowledges the necessity of raising rates to compensate for a budget deficit in FY 2026, but suggests that residential customers’ monthly Customer Charge stay at $15 until the end of the next rate case. Volumetric rates should be used to collect any additional money that the Austin City Council deems necessary from clients without the advantage of a full rate case. In addition to protecting lower-income consumers who aren’t eligible for Customer Assistance Program (CAP) rebates from unfair hikes, this will maintain the significant incentive to conserve energy. In order to properly maintain Austin Energy budgets in line with expenses, the Austin City Council should also think about scheduling rate cases more frequently than once every five years.
Austin Energy ought to hold another rate case in three years, according to White. But none of the other commissioners expressed agreement with that notion. Al Braden, the commissioner, stated that the utility was making every effort to assist CAP consumers. According to him, a rate case is really complicated, and he would wonder if it should be done more often.
The resolution was rejected by the majority of commissioners. White and Reed’s proposal was endorsed by just Commissioner Raul Alvarez.
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