Posting from an email that is going around the neighborhood and FB:
Austin Energy is planning a MAJOR INCREASE in residential electric rates beginning in January. Revenues collected from residential ratepayers will JUMP 23% all at once, and AE is promising to raise them an additional 2% EVERY year, for years to come after that. All the while, electric rates across the rest of Texas are expected to GO DOWN!
Of course, Austin Energy isn’t being straightforward in how it is explaining this to the public, for example:
They say that “rates for the average home will increase by 12%, without acknowledging that rates for many AE customers will increase by 30% or more.
They say they haven’t “raised rates” in years, but of course, their fuel charges have gone up dramatically, so electric bills have been going up.
They say they are competitive with non-monopoly electric providers in Texas , but they base their comparison on 2009 rates. In the meantime, everyone else’s rates are going down, while Austin Energy’s are going up. They are no longer competitive, and the problem promises to get worse, year after year.
DID YOU KNOW:Austin Energy is controlled by the Austin City Council?
The Austin City Council skims $100M+ a year from Austin Energy to put into the general funds of the city? That’s over 15% of the city’s general fund! We call this the SECRET COMMUTER TAX! That money isn’t invested in the utility, it’s spent on whatever the politicians in Austin want to spend it on!
58,000 customers who live in the monopoly Austin Energy service area aren’t even eligible to vote for City Council? Talk about taxation without representation!
Austin Energy’s own rate consultant says the new rate structure will mean that Austin will likely have the MOST COMPLEX RATE structure in the NATION?
This structure is similar to one that was deemed to be TOO COMPLEX AND PUNITIVE FOR CALIFORNIA (!!!) and is being phased out there?
AE’s rate consultant has pointed out that the proposed rate structure OVERCHARGES RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS (and small businesses) by 20% to subsidize other classes of customers?
By design, the new structure is designed to PUNISH owners of homes like ours in the suburbs, because in the opinion of the City Council that we can’t vote for, our houses are too big, and “waste” energy. This rate structure also punishes LARGER FAMILIES, all-electric homes, people with wells, and low-income households (who generally have less energy efficient homes and appliances).
HOW DO WE PROTECT OURSELVES FROM THE AUSTIN ENERGY MONOPOLY?Fortunately, there is a way to fight back. If we gather signatures from 5% of the 58,000 AE monopoly customers who live outside the City of Austin , we can force AE to defend its rate structure before the state Public Utility Commission. This will enable us to an expert and fair determination as to whether the proposed AE rate structure is reasonable and equitable, and whether the practice of skimming $100M+ of AE revenue into the city coffers each year is good public policy. WE ONLY NEED APPROXIMATELY 2900 VALID SIGNATURES (1 signature only per electric customer) TO FORCE A REVIEW BY OBJECTIVE EXPERTS. If AE can justify what it is doing, then the rate structure will move forward, and we will be none the worse off for having had it properly reviewed. But if the PUC finds problems with it, AE will have to go back to the drawing board.
The City Council is expected to pass this new rate structure in early DECEMBER. From the time of that vote, we will have 45 DAYS TO GATHER 2900 VALID SIGNATURES from the “taxed but not represented” parts of the AE monopoly service area. We are organizing NOW to educate AE customers and prepare them to sign the petitions as soon as the City Council acts.
LEARN MORE: COME TO A MEETING AT THE STEINER RANCH BELLA MAR COMMUNITY CENTER , OCTOBER 25 AT 6:30 PM
