LCRA and Utilities Fight Over Contracts

River authority could lose half of its electric revenues

"...dispute over the way it treated seven of those utilities on their way out the door...."

Sept. 14, 2012 News Feature by Mike Kanin

Up, Up, and Away! Utilities Ready to Raise Rates

The budget gap will be plugged with rising utility rates.

"...and convention center -- and, largest among them, the utilities. And just as, over the next few years of..."

June 20, 2003 News Feature by Mike Clark-Madison

Then There's This: Utilities or Food?

The poor get poorer as electric and water rates rise

"...basis – choosing between buying food or paying for utilities, or paying for utilities and foregoing medical care or..."

Feb. 24, 2012 News Column by Amy Smith

Council, City Utilities Continue to Soften Blow of Storms

Reason to relieve

March 5, 2021 News Feature by Austin Sanders

Austin's Utilities Brace for Busy Billing Season

"If the water goes through the meter, you bought it. If electricity goes through the meter, you bought it."

May 19, 2017 News Feature by Nina Hernandez

City Hall Hustle: Milk Cows and Cash Cows

AE's uncertain future means wobbly program budgets

"...Simpson, the municipal milk's going bad at the city utilities...."

Sept. 3, 2010 News Column by Wells Dunbar

Swiss Army Man

This infamous "farting corpse" movie is all gassed up with nowhere to go

"...it’s a Swiss Army knife that’s short a few utilities to be absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, this is a film..."

July 1, 2016 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

City Unplugged

"...this joyous melee is Toivo (Uukkivi), a young city utilities operator, who, at the behest of his loving and..."

Oct. 13, 1995 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

News Roundup: Commissions, Complaints, and Candidates

Intrigue and drama over technical lobbying laws

"...potential anti-lobbying violation thwarts City Council's quest for a utilities consultant; council's battle over property appraisals continues; another Democratic..."

Dec. 7, 2015 News Post

Dingus Don't Like Craddick and ALEC

Craddick challenger lambasts speaker over "special interest" award.

"...a "long list of cigarette makers, drug companies, and utilities ... looking for government contracts or for lax regulation."..."

July 31, 2008 News Post by Richard Whittaker

City Budget Breakdown

The final presentation of the city's $525.3 million proposed budget for fiscal year 2007 is Friday, Aug. 31; the focus: Major Utilities and Infrastructure and Growth Management – yea haw!

"...to mistake for quiet housekeeping today's focus on Major Utilities and Infrastructure and Growth Management – but as Austin..."

Sept. 1, 2006 News Column by Wells Dunbar

Winds of Change

As electric industry restructuring opens utilities up to competition, some, including Austin's municipally-owned utility, are looking to renewable energy sources to win customers and meet the requirements of a 1999 law.

"...positively beaming. Wind-powered generators, long shunned by Texas electric utilities, are primed to break into the state's energy market..."

April 21, 2000 News Feature by Kevin Fullerton

Shock to the System

Brace Yourselves: Deregulation Is Coming, Eventually

"...traditionally worked as a "vertical" structure wherein 27 large utilities, cooperatives, and river authorities produce most of their own..."

Feb. 21, 1997 News Feature by Louisa C. Brinsmade

Naked City

Utilities' estimates of stranded costs associated with deregulation are coming in, and they're far higher than the figures originally provided to the Texas Legislature when the law was being approved.

"...Texas by the time many of the state's largest utilities are freed from government price-setting and regulation. Critics worry..."

June 2, 2000 News Feature by Dan Oko

Out-Gunned?

Sierra Blanca Dump Proponents Divide and Multiply

"...of lawyers hired by the state's two biggest electric utilities...."

Jan. 31, 1997 News Feature by Robert Bryce

Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground

Austin slowly thaws out from an unprecedented – but not entirely unexpected – disaster

"...Commission (which among other things mandates winterization standards for utilities) and it can't import power on a large scale..."

Feb. 19, 2021 News Feature by Lina Fisher

Naked City

Austin Energy readies a "secrecy resolution" to present to council that would allow it to conceal some of its financial information from the public. The resolution already has many consumer activists up in arms.

"...city-owned utility the same right currently enjoyed by private utilities to keep sensitive financial information secret...."

July 14, 2000 News Feature by Kevin Fullerton

LCRA Close To Capping Utility Sales

River Authority moves to begin unloading water/wastewater utilities

"...LCRA should sell some 30 municipal water and wastewaster utilities to a coalition of regional municipalities and not to..."

Nov. 25, 2011 News Feature by Mike Kanin

Is Texas Gas Burning Austinites' Money?

Energy gadfly says utility may be overcharging customers

"...cost seemed unusually high. At TGS, as at most utilities, fuel cost is a pass-through charge to customers, one..."

April 15, 2005 News Feature by Daniel Mottola

Naked City

Thanks to soaring energy prices, wind energy is becoming cheaper than that fueled by natural gas and other fossil.fuels.

"...Still, spokespersons for major utilities aren't as quick to dismiss wind power as a..."

Oct. 13, 2000 News Feature by Kevin Fullerton

Pioneers or Settlers?

Balancing renewables and affordability at AE

"...rosy predictions for renewables while issuing dire warnings for utilities. The year began with headlines announcing a Credit Suisse..."

Jan. 16, 2015 News Feature by Nora Ankrum

Taking Budget Mountain by Strategy

To balance the city's long-term accounts, financial discussions need to climb beyond the General Fund

"...the General Fund's reliance on declining contributions from city-owned utilities; whether the city is shortchanging other revenue streams, like..."

July 23, 2010 News Feature by Wells Dunbar

Dirty Air Update

Energy industry still running roughshod over Texas

"...them? And why, in operating these plants, are Texas utilities going to be allowed to increase our nation-leading CO2..."

Aug. 18, 2006 News Feature by Daniel Mottola

Trench Warfare

Federal judge rules for LCRA on the Dripping Springs pipeline project, but the SOS lawsuit proceeds

"...shortages in northern Hays County necessitate the extension of utilities. "During the drought last summer," says Powers, "it became..."

May 11, 2001 News Feature by Rob Curran

Naked City

The council approves a requirement that all matters coming to a vote include a note detailing their financial impact; Austin Energy's "competitive matters" resolution, which would keep some business matters secret, angers some local activists.

"...the 76th Texas Legislature's Senate Bill 7, municipally owned utilities have the right to designate certain business transactions as..."

Feb. 16, 2001 News Feature by Emily Pyle

Naked City

Wind power is creating a huge buzz in Texas; but will the honeymoon last?

"...state's 1999 electric utility restructuring act, which requires investor-owned utilities to meet quotas for renewable energy purchases through 2009...."

Dec. 1, 2000 News Feature by Kevin Fullerton

The Good, The Bad, and the Pricey of Texas Energy Bills

Incentives for gas move ahead, energy efficiency measures stall

"...Chapter. The Public Utility Commission would establish rules for utilities to offer rebates and incentives for strategies like weatherization..."

May 19, 2023 News Post by Lina Fisher

AE Finalists: California Dreamin'

Greens question the need for Golden Staters

"...The candidates, all three from publicly owned utilities, have overseen transitions to greater use of renewable energy,..."

June 25, 2010 News Feature by Nora Ankrum

Capitalists, Conservationists Say No to Dirty Coal

Showdown taking shape over plans to build 16 old-style coal-fired power plants, which threaten to push Austin's marginal air quality into the red

"...showdown is taking shape over plans by various electric utilities, led by Dallas-based TXU, to build 16 old-style, coal-fired..."

Dec. 29, 2006 News Feature by Daniel Mottola

Energy Efficiency One Way or Another

Wanted: new rules to ensure funding is available year-round for consumers seeking to lower their electricity use

"...A 1999 Texas law requires investor-owned electric utilities to offer cost-effective energy efficiency programs to meet at..."

Oct. 13, 2006 News Feature by Daniel Mottola

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