AUSTIN, Texas — The triple-digit temperatures we’ve seen in August come at a price.
Austin Energy said it could adjust "pass-through charges" for all customers effective Nov. 1. A typical residential customer using 860 kWh per month would see a 1.5% or $1.33 increase to their bill. Commercial customers would see an increase of 0.3% over the previous year, depending on how they use electricity.
The utility said the reasons for the adjustment include an increase in the Power Supply Adjustment (PSA) and a decrease in the Regulatory Charge.
Austin Energy said they decreased the PSA by 2.5% in November 2018 to return a surplus of $21 million in funds to its customers during 2019, which resulted in a PSA for this year that was below actual market costs. Customers received those funds and the utility no longer has the surplus, so the PSA increase would primarily be to reflect that return. The new PSA is also closer to current supply costs for power and extreme high Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) power prices during August. The total PSA increase would be 8.5%.
The utility intends to decrease the Regulatory Charge on monthly bills by 6.7% to reflect a surplus of $7 million connected to the use of the wholesale transmission system within ERCOT. The Public Utility Commission of Texas establishes wholesale transmission rates for all of ERCOT's transmission providers. Austin Energy last adjusted its Regulatory Charge in November, with a decrease of 1.5%.
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Austin Energy previously stated in a memo sent to City staff that a significant portion of the adjustment is a result of the under-recovery trends outlined in Austin Energy's quarterly financial updates to the Austin City Council. The memo said the full adjustment for the coming year fell within the six to nine percent range communicated to the Electric Utility Commission on Aug. 12 and the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee on Aug. 14. That memo had stated that customers would see an average $2.10 increase in the PSA charge on their monthly bill starting on Nov. 1.
At their meeting on Wednesday, the Austin City Council was set to conduct a public hearing to receive comments and consider the proposed rate and fee changes from the memo as part of the proposed budget for the upcoming year.
According to Austin Energy, the utility reviews and adjusts its pass-through charges every year to reflect actual expenses, including the PSA, Regulatory Charge and Community Benefits Charge (which didn't change this year). The charges "reflect the dollar-to-dollar costs and include no profit or return to Austin Energy."
These changes are proposals included in the City budget that will be reviewed by the city council, according to Austin Energy.
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