Austin Energy Budget

Austin Energy is a community-owned electric utility and the largest City of Austin department. Annually, revenues exceed $1.2 billion with annual operating and maintenance expenses of more than $900 million. That includes about $470 million in power plant fuel, purchased power and Austin’s share of costs for management of the state electric grid.

Building a Competitive Utility
Austin Energy serves more than 415,000 customers over a 437 square mile area. This requires an investment of about $200 million a year to maintain, upgrade and expand the electric system and generation of the utility to meet the growth in energy demand.

As a community-owned electric utility, Austin Energy provides a return to the City that helps fund fire, police, parks, libraries and other services.

Deregulation in Texas
When the Texas legislature established retail deregulation in 1999, legislators left participation optional for community owned electric utilities and cooperatives. Currently none of the 72 city-owned electric utilities and only one of 75 electric cooperatives participate. Public power in Texas has traditionally provided the lowest electric rates in the state.

Austin Energy’s Fiscal Year
Like all City departments, the fiscal year for Austin Energy’s budget begins on October 1 and ends September 30. The Austin City Council sets Austin Energy’s budget and electric rates.