By Bill Oakey, August 14, 2022

On July 22nd on the KXAN-TV News, I made a public call for the City to ditch Austin Energy’s rate increase. At that time, my idea faced long odds of succeeding. But as a retired accountant and former member of Austin’s citizen Electric Utility Commission, I vowed to stay in the battle until we can raise the flag of victory.

News From San Antonio Sparks an Exciting Ray of Hope!

Late last week, financial officials in San Antonio announced a huge, $75 million budget surplus, thanks to windfall revenues from soaring summer electric bills. Just as I figured, Austin now has a wonderful opportunity to quell the anxieties of our ratepayers. In San Antonio, one option being considered is to offer one-time refunds, in the form of credits to customers’ October bills. Here in Austin, we should be able to call off or postpone the entire rate increase.

The City’s Independent Consumer Advocate Personally Agrees

While clarifying this as a personal opinion, rather than an official statement from his team’s rate filing brief, Clarence Johnson gave me permission to share this quote from an email to me: “I agree with your position that the rate increase could be postponed until post test year actual data becomes available.  My reasoning is simply this: ICA’s review indicated that the proposed rate increase should have been $6 M, which is much smaller than the (Austin Energy’s) original request or rebuttal request.”

It’s All About the Rate Design, With Winners and Losers

Above all else, we must oppose Austin Energy’s radical rate design change. What I did not know until recently is that the out-of-city ratepayers would walk away with the big grand prize. The vast majority of those customers live in large to very large, expensive homes. The current rate design keeps those customers paying into the highest rate tiers on the five-tier scale. This provides a conservation incentive. On average, outside city customers use 86% more electricity than inside city customers. (See pg. 43). Under Austin Energy’s new plan, those people would see generous discounts on their bills. (See pp. 42-44). All while struggling Austin apartment renters and low to moderate income folks would bear the brunt of the rate increase. So much for affordability and narrowing the economic divide!

Past history shows us another, somewhat political motive for gifting the non-city ratepayers with lower bills. Even though they enjoy Austin’s amenities, these folks don’t pay City taxes. And whenever they object to our electric rates, they appeal them to the Texas Public Utility Commission, or even to the Legislature. Austin Energy’s new rate design might just keep them quiet and happy. What a sad situation!

Austin Energy Versus “Too Much Customer Efficiency”

The new rate plan would create a seismic shift in Austin Energy’s pricing structure. Raising the monthly residential customer charge from $10.00 to $25.00 would reset annual base revenues unrelated to electricity sales to over $140 million. ($25.00 X 467,291 customers X 12 months). This shift would be a short-sighted, self-defeating approach – to address sales declines that are due to solar panels and other efficiency options that homeowners and businesses are adopting at a rapidly accelerating pace.

The utility’s future plans call for enlarging that shift, in addition to reducing solar buyback credits. (See “Looming Penalties for Solar Users” here). That’s a pretty bleak picture. Especially in light of the big climate and energy bill that the President will sign this week. And AISD’s upcoming bond election, that would provide solar rooftops and other energy efficiency upgrades for the schools.

My previous blog piece and radio interview address the climate change / electric utility dilemma that also threatens other cities and states across the country.

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off

Here are four major factors that support postponing or canceling Austin’s rate increase:

1. The Independent Consumer Advocate (ICA) in the rate case reviewed Austin Energy’s books, and found two accounting errors, totaling $12.5 million. Austin Energy accepted those reductions, bringing the revenue deficiency down, from $48.2 million to $35.7 million. (See pp. 1-2).

2. The ICA cites several instances where Austin Energy used future cost assumptions. Some of those do not meet the requirement for being known and measurable. And using future costs, combined with past test year revenues violates the matching rule in standard rate-making procedures. After adjusting out those costs and the accounting errors, the  ICA concluded that the revenue deficiency should be only $6.5 million. (See pp. 5-8).

3. The City should raise more utility revenue by increasing the Contributions in Aid of Construction (CIAC) fees, charged to developers for connecting new customers. It should be revised to the same standards used for Austin Water’s capital recovery fees. (See pg. 9).

4. The City Council should follow San Antonio’s example. A comparison of budgeted to actual base rate revenues from October 2021 through this summer will reveal a large surplus. That, in combination with the other factors shown above, should send the rate increase to the scrap heap. (Oops…to the recycle bin)!

See my full list of 10 recommendations for the Austin City Council at the bottom of my previous blog piece.

I would encourage the City to bring in outside experts and consult with all the participants in the rate case. Austin Energy needs a fresh new start, with full transparency and lots of public engagement. We, the people are its owners. Our elected City Council is the board of directors. Let’s remake this valuable asset into a utility that always honors equity and fairness. And one that is innovative and forward-looking, with respect to the changing customer-efficiency landscape.

Heartfelt thanks to my good friends and the Independent Consumer Advocate, who traveled the long and winding road to their final filing briefs in the rate case!

Musical Accompaniment for This Blog Piece:

1. “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” – Harry Connick Jr., from “When Harry Met Sally”
2. “Sad Situation” – Tracy Nelson & Mother Earth
3. “San Antonio Rose” – Asleep at the Wheel
4. “Home In San Antone” – Willie Nelson
5. “Across The Alley From The Alamo” – Bob Wills
6. “I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose” – Dottsy
7. “The Long And Winding Road” – The Beatles