Austin Energy customers can expect a drop in their monthly bills in the new year. The utility says it’s lowering the rate it charges customers to offset operating costs by 5% starting Wednesday. Customers can expect to save $2 a month.
The fee being reduced is called a power supply adjustment — it includes the costs Austin Energy passes on for powering its plants, buying energy off the Texas grid and supplying power to customers. That rate shot up in 2023 after a statewide freeze in the winter, followed by record-breaking heat in the summer. Over the last few years, surges in demand – coupled with volatility in the natural gas market and Austin Energy's own debt obligations – have led to steady increases in customers' bills.

Matt Mitchell with Austin Energy said the energy market and the weather overall were kinder to the utility – and customers – in 2024.
“When you see more moderate temperatures, the demand for energy is very manageable. It's very, very stable," he said. "When you have those winter weather events that really impact the entire state … when you see those … triple-digit temperatures for weeks on end, that obviously really stresses the market."
Mitchell said that stability has allowed the utility to lower costs passed down to customers over the last few months, but the utility is still bracing for a potential increase in demand this winter.
"Certainly things are trending in the right direction and we will continue to pay attention," he said. "We're doing everything we can to pass savings to our community, continue to have some of the lowest energy bills in the state, and these PSA decreases the last four months reflect a lot of careful planning.”
Of course, it wouldn't be Texas without the threat of blackouts. The state has seen widespread outages during the last few Februaries, including in 2021, when much of Texas lost power for days and at least 246 people died.
The state's grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said there could be an 80% chance of rolling blackouts if the state is hit with a severe winter storm, and that conditions appear similar to the winter of 2021.