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Austin Energy
	More than electricity
	The Decker Creek Power Station, one of Austin Energy's power plants.
Company type	Public utility
Industry	Electric power
Founded	1895
Headquarters	Austin, Texas
Area served	Travis & Williamson counties, Texas
Owner	City of Austin
Website	austinenergy.com

Austin Energy is a publicly owned utility providing electrical power to the city of Austin, Texas and surrounding areas. Established in 1895, the utility is a department of the City of Austin and returns its profits to the city's general fund to finance other city services. Austin Energy is the United States' 7th largest public utility, serving more than 500,000 customers and more than one million residents (as of 2019) within a service area of approximately 437 square miles (1,130 km²), including Austin, Travis County and a small portion of Williamson County.^[1]

Energy generation

Austin Energy’s total generation capacity is more than 3,000 megawatts (MW), provided by a mixture of wind power, solar power, biomass, natural gas, nuclear power, and coal.^[2] All of Austin Energy's generation is sold into the ERCOT wholesale market; all of the retail load is served by purchasing power from ERCOT.^[3]

Generation assets

Austin Energy owns and operates two natural gas-fired power plants in the Austin area: the Decker Creek Power Station and the Sand Hill Energy Center. The utility also owns 50% of units 1 and 2 at the coal-fired Fayette Power Project in La Grange and 16% of the South Texas Nuclear Project in Bay City (near Houston).^[2] The STNP was the subject of a binding citizen referendum (November 3, 1981) to sell Austin's part in the project. STNP went online in 1986. No council has sold Austin's STNP, telling citizens that "no one wanted our 16 percent".

Austin Energy's 2030 generation resource plan called for the retirement of its share in the coal-fired Fayette Power Project by the end of 2022, but multi-year negotiations with co-owner LCRA stalled in late 2021.^[4]

Unit^[2]	Fuel	Capacity (MW)	Construction Year
Decker Creek Power Station (Austin)	Gas	200	1967–1978
Fayette Power Project (La Grange, 50% Share)	Coal	600	1979–1980
Robert Mueller Energy Center (Austin)	Gas	4.6	2006
Sand Hill Energy Center (Del Valle)	Gas	595	2001–2010
South Texas Project (Bay City, 16% Share)	Nuclear	430	1988–1989

Renewable energy

As of July 2014, renewable energy represented roughly 23% of Austin Energy's generation portfolio, which included wind, solar, landfill methane and biomass projects.^[5] The utility's 2014 generation plan indicated that it aimed to produce 50% of power from renewable sources and 75% from carbon-free sources by 2025.^[6] Since that time, new green energy generation assets have rapidly been brought online. As of August 2019, green energy had jumped to 43% of Austin Energy's generation mix, and by February 2020 included 1,425.6 MW of wind turbines and 644.6 MW of solar panels.^[7]

Renewable Resources^[5]	Fuel Type	Installed Capacity (MW)	First Operation Year	Contract Expiration Date
Sunset Farms	Landfill Methane	4	1996	2021
Tessman Road Landfill	Landfill Methane	7.8	2003	2017
Nacogdoches Power	Biomass	105	2012
Webberville Solar Project	Solar	30	2011	2036
Roserock Solar	Solar	157.5	2016	2036
East Pecos (Bootleg)	Solar	118.5	2017	2031
Upton County (SPTX12B1)	Solar	157.5	2017	2042
La Loma Community Solar	Solar	2.6	2018	2043
Waymark	Solar	178.5	2018	2043
Whirlwind Energy Center	Wind	59.8	2007	2027
Hackberry Wind Project	Wind	165.6	2008	2023
Los Vientos II	Wind	201.6	2013	2037
Whitetail	Wind	92.3	2013	2037
Los Vientos III	Wind	200	2015	2040
Jumbo Road	Wind	299.7	2015	2033
Los Vientos IV	Wind	200	2016	2041
Midway Solar^[8]	Solar	236	2018	2038
Karankawa	Wind	206.64	2019	2034
Gulf Wind^[9]	Wind	271.4	2009	2040

On April 23, 2019, Austin Energy reached an agreement to purchase the Nacogdoches biomass facility for $460 million. Since Austin Energy entered into the 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with the biomass facility the price of natural gas has come down significantly. The purchase – one of Austin's single largest purchases ever^[10] – is anticipated to allow the city to avoid $275 million in additional costs.^[11]

Energy conservation

Austin Energy operates an energy efficiency program to help customers identify ways to reduce their energy consumption and save on utility bills. The utility offers various subsidies and rebates for efficiency improvements, including HVAC, insulation, efficient lighting, and photovoltaic panels.^[12]

In 1992, Austin Energy developed the nation's first local Green Building program.^[13] It shares the distinction of being the largest and best established green building program in the country along with Built Green Colorado in Denver.^[14]

^[15]

Electric vehicle program

Austin Energy’s Plug-In EVerywhere network, powered by 100% renewable energy, expanded to 186 public charging stations to help drive a two-year, 300% Austin EV growth rate. Austin Energy led a 10-county, regional effort to develop a community plan that supports the adoption of EVs and successfully deployed the first-of-its-kind EV home charging Demand Response program.

Criticism

Austin energy has been criticized for increasing energy prices to fund renewable energy projects and for the 2011 rolling blackouts.^[16] It has also been criticized for its handling of the Texas freeze in early 2021.^[17] Critics have called Austin Energy a "monopoly", since Austin didn't follow suit in the deregulation that approximately 1/3rd of Texas cities have been part of.

Austin Energy received significant criticism, including calls for its executive team to resign, during an ice storm that occurred on February 1, 2023 for failing to prepare for adverse weather, poorly communicating with customers, and not being able to restore power to customers within a reasonable time frame.^[18]