Austin Energy to Supply More Green Energy, Increase Prices

By 2020, Austin Energy will be buying over 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. This aggressive plan will help maintain Austin’s image as an environmentally proactive city by reducing carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants by 20 percent.

In this effort to reduce dependency on coal-produced electricity, Austin Energy will seek to get its power from West Texas wind farms, a new array of solar panels in eastern Travis County, a new natural gas turbine at an existing plant, and a planned biomass power plant in East Texas. Austin Energy also plans to continue purchasing a portion of its electricity from the South Texas Nuclear Project.

Austin Energy’s decision comes after months of low participation in its GreenChoice program where residents can voluntarily sign up to individually purchase power from renewable sources. Because electricity from the renewable energy sources is more expensive, the average Austin Energy residential customer will see a monthly electricity bill increase of around 22 percent. This scheduled increase in electricity prices only reinforces the need to ensure that all homes become as energy efficient as possible. In fact, efficiency upgrades made to homes now could potentially offset the entire price increase.