* This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting. [00:00:05] FOUR. THIS [CALL TO ORDER] IS THE ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION. JULY 20TH, 2026. LET ME TAKE ROLL. UH, VICE CHAIR BRADEN, I SEE THAT WE HAVE COMMISSIONER ALVAREZ. DO WE HAVE HIM ON YET? NOT YET. COMMISSIONER BELLAMY. COMMISSIONER BENAVIDEZ. WE DO NOT HAVE COMMISSIONER BLACKBURN. I DON'T SEE ON REMOTE. COMMISSIONER GILLETTE. COMMISSIONER KERSEY. COMMISSIONER REED. I SEE. AND COMMISSIONER WHITE. IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU ALL. SO WE HAVE QUORUM. SO NEXT THING IS PUBLIC [PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL ] COMMUNICATION. WE HAVE TWO SPEAKERS. GOOD EVENING COMMISSIONERS AND STAFF. I'M DAVID LEVEQUE. I SENT YOU ALL A PDF AHEAD OF THE MEETING. I'M GONNA SLOW THE SLIDES HERE. IF YOU WANNA BRING IT UP WHILE I'M TALKING THROUGH IT NOW OR LATER. IT'S COOL. WE'RE HAVING AN EVENT THIS, UH, SATURDAY, THIS WEEKEND WE WANTED TO TELL YOU ABOUT. IT'S CALLED THE ENERGY HACKATHON, AND WE'RE TRYING TO HELP SOLVE AUSTIN'S ELECTRICITY EMISSIONS CHALLENGES. AS WE ALL KNOW, WE HAD A GOAL OF ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2035 IN OUR RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN. AND UH, ALSO IN THE LEAD UP TO THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN, THERE WAS SOME PORTFOLIO WORK DONE AND THE GROUP CALLED, UH, SEND ANALYTICS ACTUALLY CREATED FOUR PORTFOLIOS. UH, ONE OF THEM ACTUALLY GETS US TO ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2035. AND SO WHAT WE'D LIKE TO DO AT THIS EVENT IS SEE IF THERE'S SOME WAY IN WHICH WE COULD ACTUALLY GET THERE. SO WE'RE ORGANIZING, UH, A GROUP FROM THE COMMUNITY TO, TO LOOK AT THE RESOURCES THAT WOULD BE NEEDED TO ACTUALLY GET THERE. AND IT'S GONNA BE FUN. YOU'RE ALL INVITED. YOU'RE WELCOME TO COME. AND, UM, IF YOU LOOK AT THE PACKET THAT YOU, THAT I SENT TO YOU, WHEN YOU HAVE A CHANCE, YOU CAN SEE THE WEBSITE ON THERE, AUSTIN CLEAN ENERGY.NET. THAT'S AN EXAMPLE OF SOME OF THE RESOURCES WE'LL BE BUILDING OVER THE WEEKEND TO EDUCATE AND INFORM THE COMMUNITY AND ALL OF YOU ABOUT HOW WE COULD GET TO ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2035. AND ON A SEPARATE TOPIC, I ENCOURAGE YOU OR REQUEST THAT YOU DO VOTE YES FOR ITEM 12 TONIGHT. THANK YOU. WHEN DOES THIS START? ONCE YOU START SPEAKING COMMISSION. I AM PAUL ROBBINS. I AM VICE CHAIR OF THE CITY'S RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COMMISSION. UH, I HAVE BEEN WORKING AROUND ENERGY POLICY FOR MOST OF 49 YEARS. UH, REGARDING THE BATTERY CONTRACT THAT IS ON YOUR AGENDA TODAY, I HAVE SEVERAL CONCERNS. THE BIGGEST ONE IS THAT AUSTIN ENERGY WILL NOT BE TRANSPARENT ABOUT ITS ECONOMICS. GIVEN THE INFORMATION I HAVE SEEN TODAY. I AM NOT SURE THAT THERE ARE ENOUGH ARBITRAGE HOURS FOR AUSTIN TO BUY, UH, LOW AND SELL HIGH AND BREAK EVEN. MAYBE THERE ARE OTHER FINANCIAL BENEFITS. BUT AT A RECENT MEETING OF OUR COMMISSION, AUSTIN ENERGY WAS SO EVASIVE ABOUT THE ECONOMICS THAT THEY WOULDN'T EVEN GIVE US THE SCANT INFORMATION THAT THEY GAVE YOUR COMMISSION. UM, UH, AS SOMEONE WHO'S BEEN AROUND ENERGY, AS LONG AS I HAVE THE SPEECH BY THEIR REPRESENTATIVE, UH, KIND OF RESEMBLED, UH, A KINDERGARTEN TEACHER. UH, BUT ANOTHER REASON, UH, THAT I'M HERE IS THAT AUSTIN ENERGY SEEMS TO BE SO SCARED OF DISCUSSING THE ECONOMICS THAT THEY WILL NOT COME TO OUR COMMISSION FOR REVIEW. WE SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR THIS TO BE PLACED ON OUR AGENDA AS ALLOWED BY CITY CODE. AND AUSTIN ENERGY HAS CHOSEN TO VIOLATE THE CITY CODE. THE UTILITY CLAIMS THAT THEY HAVE SOME KIND OF INSTRUCTION FROM ANOTHER DEPARTMENT TO AVOID US. HOWEVER, I'VE TALKED TO CITY FINANCE, UH, TO A FINANCE EXECUTIVE PERSONALLY, AND THERE IS NO RULE THAT FORBIDS TWO CITY COMMISSIONS FROM HEARING THE SAME ITEM. IF IT FOCUSES ON THE SAME DEPARTMENT, THE RULE JUST DOES NOT EXIST. UM, I'M RUNNING OUTTA TIME, SO I'M GONNA BESEECH YOU ALL TO ASK THE HARD [00:05:01] QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ECONOMICS. UH, FOR WHATEVER REASON, AUSTIN ENERGY IS BEING EVASIVE AND IT IS NECESSARY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THIS UTILITY TO KNOW THAT THESE ARE WORKING ECONOMICALLY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION. THANK YOU. UM, [APPROVAL OF MINUTES ] APPROVAL OF MINUTES. ANY COMMENTS IN THE MINUTES? SORRY. OKAY, WE HAVE , WE HAVE MOTION. WE HAVE A SECOND. ALL IN FAVOR? I EVA? WE HAVE SIX ANYWAY. OKAY, LET'S GO THROUGH DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS TWO THROUGH SEVEN. ANY OF THOSE WANNA BE PULLED? I'D LIKE TO TALK ABOUT SEVEN. YES, I'M HERE. SEVEN. UH, CYRUS CAN'T HEAR YOU. OH, CAN YOU NOT HEAR ME? UM, BARELY. UH, I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO PULL SEVEN. SEVEN. OKAY. AL UH, INTERESTED IN ITEM TWO. OKAY. , ANY OF 'EM GOING ONCE, TWICE. WHAT ABOUT ANY, ANYONE HERE? OKAY, SO LET'S TALK ABOUT 3, 4, 5, AND SIX. NO ISSUES, NO QUESTIONS. OKAY. MOTION. I MOVE APPROVAL. SECOND. OKAY. ALL IN FAVOR? YEAH. OKAY. SO AYE. 3, 4, 5, AND SIX. SO LET'S TALK ABOUT NUMBER TWO. I CAN STILL HEAR ME. CAN YOU HEAR ME? NOW? WE'RE HEARING A SQUEAK. HELLO? HI. I WANT TO PULL THREE. YOU WANNA PULL THREE? CUT? IS THAT WHAT YOU SAID? YEAH. YES, THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID. AM I AL A FIRST? CAN Y'ALL HEAR ME OKAY? WE HEAR YOU NOW BETTER. OH, DON'T SEE. I DON'T SEE YOU, BUT WE HEAR YOU. WE DIDN'T. OH, YOU CAN'T SEE ME NOW? I SEE YOU. I CAN SEE YOU. OKAY. OKAY, CHAIR. TYLER, YOU'RE GONNA NEED TO RETAKE A VOTE SINCE THREE WAS INCLUDED IN THE LAST VOTE. OKAY. SO YOU NEED TO DO A VOTE ON FOUR, FIVE, AND SIX. OKAY. THIS REDO, REDO FOUR, FIVE AND SIX. MOVE APPROVAL. SECOND. SECOND. OKAY. ALL IN FAVOR? FOUR OR FIVE AND SIX. OKAY, WE'VE GOT THOSE OUT OF THE WAY. SABBA ON NUMBER THREE. OKAY, LET'S GO BACK TO TWO. [2. Recommend approval authorizing two contracts for electric protective devices to protect against reverse power flow for Austin Energy with Techline Inc. and KBS Electrical Distributors Inc., for a term of two years with up to three 1-year extension options for a total contract amount not to exceed $10,000,000 divided between the contractors. Funding: $500,000 is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Energy. Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets. ] GOOD EVENING COMMISSIONERS ON, OH, GOOD EVENING. IS IT ON? OKAY. UH, DAVID, TOM CHEON, VICE PRESIDENT OF ENGINEERING. AL DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION? UH, YEAH. UH, DAVID, A QUESTION ON ON JUST WHAT LEVEL IT, IT SOUNDS LIKE IMPORTANT STUFF. I JUST QUICK CURIOUS, IS THIS A THE DISTRIBUTION LEVEL, THE NEIGHBORHOOD LEVEL OR TRANSMISSION OR WHAT, WHERE EXACTLY DO, ARE YOU PREVENTING THE BACKFLOWS AND WHAT'S INVOLVED? SURE. THIS IS, UH, ON THE DOWNTOWN NETWORK. THIS IS ON THE LOW VOLTAGE SIDE, SO LESS THAN, YOU KNOW, UH, 600 VOLTS. SO IT'S FOUR 80 SERVICE OR, UH, TWO 16 OR 2 0 8, UM, UH, SERVICE DOWNTOWN. AND SO BASICALLY THEY SIT ON THE, THE DEVICE ITSELF SITS ON THE LOW SIDE OF THE TRANSFORMER, AND THAT'S, YOU KNOW, UM, AT THE LOW VOLTAGE LEVEL AND PREVENTS BACK FEED, UH, FROM OTHER CIRCUITS UP INTO THE NETWORK, UH, SO THAT IT CAN SECTIONALIZE ITSELF. DOES THIS HELP YOU, UH, DEPLOY MORE SOLAR DOWNTOWN OR, OR JUST DEAL WITH WHAT YOU'VE GOT? NO, THIS IS, THIS IS JUST, UH, REQUIRED FOR A, UH, FUNCTIONING, UH, NETWORK. UH, BECAUSE YOU HAVE SO MANY THINGS TIED TOGETHER, YOU HAVE TO HAVE THESE EXTRA, UH, PROTECTIVE DEVICES AND THEY'RE CALLED NETWORK PROTECTORS TO PREVENT, UH, BACKFLOWS, UH, IT DOES NOT, UH, PREVENT OR, OR, OR CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT ADDING SOLAR ON THE DOWNTOWN NETWORK. I KNOW I, I PERSONALLY HAVE, UH, INSTALLED TWO LOCATIONS, UH, FOR THE FIRST TIME AT AUSTIN ENERGY. UH, WE JUST NEEDED TO PUT A MINIMUM, UH, IMPORT RELAY ON IT SO THAT, UH, IT DID NOT BACK FEED INTO THE SYSTEM AND OPERATE THESE DEVICES WHICH WOULD CAUSE POWER QUALITY FOR BOTH THAT CUSTOMER [00:10:01] AND OTHER CUSTOMERS ON THAT, UH, ON THAT GRID. OKAY, THANK YOU. YES, SIR. SO QUESTION. SO YOU SAID THIS IS ON THE DOWNTOWN NETWORK? THAT'S THE MESH? YES. YES, SIR. THAT'S CORRECT. AND SO ISN'T THE COMPLICATING FACTOR? I HAVE A FRIEND OF MINE TRIED TO PUT SOLAR ON A, UH, A CHURCH DOWNTOWN AND THEY HAD TO PUT ONE OF THESE YEARS AGO. AND SO THE REASON YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BACKFLOW IS YOU'D HAVE TO RE-ENGINEER THE, THE PROTECTION CIRCUITRY OR WHAT DOES IT PROTECT? YEAH, SO, SO BASICALLY THE, THE DOWNTOWN GRID, THE WAY IT WORKS IS YOU HAVE LIKE THREE CIRCUITS PER GRID. THEY'RE ALL TIED TOGETHER. UH, THEY'RE TIED AT THE, UM, MEDIUM VOLTAGE LEVEL, AND THEY'RE ALSO TIED AT THE, UH, LOW VOLTAGE LEVEL. AND SO IF THERE'S EVER A FAULT ON THE LOW VOLTAGE SIDE, UM, IT WILL, IT POTENTIALLY DEPENDING, OR ACTUALLY I APOLOGIZE ON THE, ON THE MEDIA VOLTAGE SIDE, IT'S, IT'S POSSIBLE THAT THE OTHER CIRCUITS WOULD TRY TO FEED THROUGH THE TRANSFORMER AND BASICALLY FEED THE FAULT UPLINE. THIS DEVICE VERY QUICKLY INTERRUPTS THAT AND KEEPS THAT TO KEEP, UH, KEEP THE INTEGRITY OF THE MEDIUM VOLTAGE SIDE. UH, AS FAR AS PUTTING A SOLAR AND DOWNTOWN NETWORK, MOST UTILITIES DO NOT ALLOW IT AUSTIN ENERGY DOES. UM, BUT WITH THAT AS WE REQUIRE MINIMUM IMPORT RELAY SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE SOMETHING CALLED CHATTERING OF THE NETWORK PROTECTORS, UH, BECAUSE, UM, IT, IF IT TRIES TO PUSH UP, IT WILL OPERATE THINKING THAT THERE MAY BE A, A FAULT UPLINE OR, UH, OF THE DEVICE. SO WHOEVER, WHATEVER BUSINESS OR ENTITY PUTS SOLAR ON THEIR BUILDING DOWNTOWN ON THE MESH, THEY HAVE TO SELF CONSUME AND IT, DURING TIMES WHEN THEY'D NORMALLY FEED BACK, THEY JUST EITHER HAVE TO STORE IT OR CURTAIL THEIR THAT IS CORRECT. THAT IS CORRECT. BECAUSE IT WOULD, IT WOULD CAUSE THESE, UH, PROTECTIVE ELEMENTS TO OPERATE, WHICH WOULD CAUSE POWER QUALITY ISSUES FOR BOTH THEM AND OTHER CUSTOMERS ON THE NETWORK. OKAY. I'M NOW MORE EDUCATED. THANK YOU. UH, OTHER QUESTIONS? OKAY. YEAH, I HAVE A QUESTION. I, YEAH, GO AHEAD. KABA. CAN I BE ALLOWED TO, I'M TRYING TO JOIN ON MY PHONE SINCE I HAVE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. CAN, CAN I BE ALLOWED? PLEASE? OKAY. I GUESS I'M, I'M JUST GONNA HAVE TO WAIT. UM, BUT I'LL ASK A QUESTION. SO I JUST WANTED TO UNDERSTAND, UH, IS THIS, UH, NEW EQUIPMENT BEING CAUSED BY BEING ADDED TO THE DOWNTOWN GRID OR ? CAN I, UH, YOU CUT OUT A LITTLE BIT, EVA. OH, COULD, IS IT POSSIBLE YOU COULD REPEAT THAT QUESTION? OKAY. SORRY, I'M JUST, CAN YOU TEXT IT TO NIKKI? OKAY. YOU CAN'T HEAR ME? WE CAN NOW. AND KABA HAVE YOU MOVED OVER BOTH ON YOUR PHONE AND ON YOUR COMPUTER? COOL. THANK YOU. SORRY ABOUT THAT. I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON WITH MY COMPUTER. I'LL GET IT SORTED OUT. UM, I WAS JUST WONDERING IF THERE WERE ANY, IF THIS EQUIPMENT IS THE RESULT OF A SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT BEING ADDED TO THE DOWNTOWN GRID? NO, IT'S, IT'S, UH, REQUIRED TO, TO HAVE A FUNCTIONING, UH, DOWNTOWN NETWORK. IT'S BEEN THERE FROM THE DAY ONE WHEN THE NETWORK WAS CREATED. SO YOU WERE REPLACING EXISTING EQUIPMENT? YES. UH, THIS IS, UH, FOR, UH, NEW, NEW LOADS THAT MAY COME ON THAT ARE PART OF THE DOWNTOWN NETWORK IN, IN OUR AREA OF THE DOWNTOWN NETWORK OR, UH, REPLACING. AND SO THAT'S WHY IT STATES IN THERE JUST AS NEEDED. OKAY. THANK YOU. ONE FOLLOW UP QUESTION. UH, IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU COULD USE A BAT IF, IF YOU WERE A DOWNTOWN, ANYONE TO PUT IN SOLAR, UH, A BATTERY WOULD BE A GOOD ALTERNATIVE TO ABSORB THE EXTRA POWER THAT THAT WASN'T AVAILABLE WHEN WE DID ST. DAVID'S A DECADE AGO. IS THAT THE, THE WAY IT READS, IF, IF, UH, IF EXTRA ENERGY THAT WOULD BE PUSHED ONTO THE NETWORK THAT WOULD OPERATE THESE IN DOWNTOWN NETWORK? YES. A BATTERY WOULD BE ONE MEANS OF, OF STORING THAT OPPOSED TO CURTAILING THAT? YES. OKAY. THANK YOU. OKAY. SO DO I HAVE A MOTION FOR NUMBER TWO AND A SECOND? I MOVE APPROVAL. THANK YOU. SECOND. I'LL SECOND CHRIS. ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. AYE. OKAY. THANK YOU. PASS NUMBER TWO. I SEE COMMISSIONER ALVAREZ JOINING. OKAY, LET'S GET TO NUMBER THREE. [3. Recommend approval authorizing an amendment to a contract for continued services of an electronic visitor management system for Austin Energy with Force 5, Inc., to increase the amount by $270,000, for a revised total contract amount not to exceed $1,087,330. Funding: $55,000 is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Energy. Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets. ] [00:15:01] EVA, YOU HAD A QUESTION ABOUT NUMBER THREE? WE HOPE WE CAN HEAR YOU. YES. THANK YOU. UM, IS THIS, I MEAN, THE WAY I'M READING IT, THIS IS LITERALLY A SYSTEM TO SIGN PEOPLE INTO THE AUSTIN ENERGY BUILDING, OR IS IT SOMETHING MORE THAN THAT? UH, GOOD EVENING. ELAINE VIELKA, VICE PRESIDENT OF, UH, TECHNOLOGY AND DATA. UH, YES, ONE COMPONENT IS SIGNING, UH, VISITORS INTO THE BUILDING. IT ALSO MAINTAINS, UH, LOGS FOR THOSE VISITORS, MINIMIZES, UH, MANUAL, YOU KNOW, MISTAKES AT ENTRY. AND THEN IT ALSO MANAGES OUR, OUR PROCESS FOR ESCORTING VISITORS INTO OUR MEDIUM AND HIGH, UM, CRITICAL FACILITIES SUCH AS HEADQUARTERS AND OUR SYSTEM CONTROL CENTER. UM, SO WE CAN, WE CAN ALIGN WITH, UH, FOLKS THAT NEED TO ESCORT VISITORS AND IT HELPS US MAINTAIN OUR, OUR NERC CIP COMPLIANCE AS WELL. DOES THAT HELP? UH, I MEAN, I APPRECIATE THE ANSWER. I GUESS IT'S LIKE, MAYBE I'M MISSING SOMETHING, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE, YOU KNOW, A GOOGLE SHEET COULD JUST ABOUT DO THAT, AND THIS IS OVER A MILLION DOLLARS, SO I'M JUST TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S, UH, WHAT YEAH, WHAT'S IT DOING THAT'S SO SPECIAL AND MAYBE, UH, TAMMY COOPER MIGHT BE ABLE TO ADD SOME MORE, UH, INFORMATION. THIS IS ALSO, THE SYSTEM HAS BEEN IN PLACE FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS NOW, I BELIEVE, AND THIS IS, UH, EXTENDING THE CONTRACT AUTHORIZATION TO ALLOW FOR A TESTING ENVIRONMENT FROM THE TECHNOLOGY STANDPOINT. DO YOU HAVE MORE ON THE COMPLIANCE? HI, TAMMY COOPER, A DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER OF REGULATORY COMMUNICATIONS COMPLIANCE, AND SPEAKING TO OUR NERC COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS, THAT IS THE, THE NORTH AMERICAN ELECTRIC RELIABILITY CORPORATION. AND THEY IMPLEMENT THE FEDERAL STANDARDS THAT WE ARE SUBJECT TO. AND IN SPECIFIC, UM, THE VISITOR ACCESS IS ONE OF THE STANDARDS THAT WE ARE MOST AUDITED ON. UM, IT IS ONE THAT WE HAVE, UH, WORKED TO ENSURE OUR COMPLIANCE, AND THIS IS A SYSTEM THAT HELPS US DO THAT. UM, AGAIN, NOT ONLY AT HQ BUT AT OTHER FACILITIES AS WELL. AND AS ELAINE ALLUDED TO, WE HAVE OUR, OUR, OUR MEDIUM AND HIGH IMPACT ASSETS THAT HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED, AND WE HAVE SPECIAL PROTECTIONS THAT ARE NECESSARY TO REQUIRE THEM. AND IT'S JUST, WE'VE BEEN USING PAPER LOGS AND IT JUST, IT, IT HAS NOT, UM, PROVEN AS SUCCESSFUL. AND IN TERMS OF OUR RISK FOR NOT COMPLYING WITH THE STANDARD, ULTIMATELY FOR ANY NERC STANDARD VIOLATION, WE ARE SUBJECT TO UP TO $1.3 MILLION A DAY FOR VIOLATION. NOW, THAT'S CERTAINLY IT, YOU KNOW, AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT, BUT THEY DO HAVE AUTHORITY TO, UM, ASSESS THAT PENALTY. AND SO CERTAINLY, UH, IT, THE COST, UH, UM, BENEFIT RATIO HERE WORKS IN THE SCENARIO OF APPROVING THIS SO THAT WE CAN ENSURE OUR COMPLIANCE WITH NERC STANDARDS. OKAY. I GUESS, UM, CAN YOU, CAN YOU HELP ME UNDERSTAND THOUGH WHAT IT IS YOU WENT FROM PAPER BEFORE, WHICH I CAN DEFINITELY, I'M, I'M WITH YOU MOVING PAST THAT. YOU'RE, I CAN SEE HOW THAT WOULD BE CHALLENGING, BUT I, I CAN THINK OF MULTIPLE WAYS OF LOGGING PEOPLE IN TO A DIGITAL, UH, FORM THAT DON'T COST OVER A MILLION DOLLARS. WELL, THIS SYSTEM IS MORE THAN, THAN JUST A FORM. IT'S ABLE TO ALLOW US TO PRE-REGISTER GUESTS TO COMPLETE SCREENING REQUIREMENTS AND, AND IT PRINTS BADGES. UM, AND, AND AGAIN, AS A SOPHISTICATED SYSTEM THAT HELPS US KEEP TRACK OF VISITORS ACROSS OUR SYSTEMS AND, AND WORKS TOGETHER AS KIND OF A, A NETWORK TYPE SOLUTION TO, TO, UH, TRACK ALL OF THAT ACROSS OUR DIFFERENT FACILITIES. OKAY. THANKS FOR THE RESPONSE. WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND FOR NUMBER THREE. MOTION SECOND. CHRIS GILLETTE. SECOND. ALL IN FAVOR? THREE. OKAY. I THINK THAT'S THE SAME SYSTEM THEY HAVE AT ERCOT WHEN YOU GO VISIT MM-HMM . NUMBER SEVEN. [7. Recommend approval authorizing the negotiation and execution of a battery storage agreement with Balcones Ridge Resiliency II, LLC, a Jupiter Power subsidiary, for up to 200 megawatts of electrical power capacity from a utility-scale battery facility, in an estimated amount not to exceed $16,000,000 per year, for a term of up to 20 years, for a total agreement amount not to exceed $320,000,000. Funding: Contingent upon available funding in future budgets. ] I, I'M VOTING AGAINST NUMBER THREE. OKAY, THANK YOU. TELL US MORE ABOUT THE BATTERIES. SO BEFORE IT WAS GONNA BE DISTRIBUTED BATTERIES WITHIN THE SERVICE AREA. [00:20:01] NOW IT'S GONNA BE ONE BIGGER BATTERY. UH, SO I, I'M PAT SWEENEY, I'M INTERIM VICE PRESIDENT FOR ENERGY AND MARKET OPERATIONS, UH, BACK AGAIN WITH ANOTHER BATTERY, UH, TOPIC, UH, UH, TO, THIS IS A UTILITY SCALE CENTRAL INSTALLATION. IS THAT, IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE ASKING ABOUT FOR THIS ONE? YEAH, BUT I THOUGHT THAT THE OCI WAS, IT WASN'T LIKE BEHIND THE METER, BUT IT STILL HAD MULTIPLE ONES MAYBE DISTRIBUTED. NO, SO, SO THE OCI THAT'S REFERENCED IN THE, UM, AGREEMENT OR IN THE RCA THAT WE WERE HERE RELATIVELY RECENTLY FOR, UM, AND WENT TO COUNCIL FOR, IT WAS ALSO A CENTRAL LARGE SCALE SINGLE INSTALLATION UTILITY SCALE. OKAY. IS THERE ANY THOUGHT ABOUT PUTTING BATTERIES EVEN THOUGH, SAY 200 MEGAWATT, UH, AND THIS IS TWO HOUR? CORRECT. OKAY. AND SPREADING IT OUT ACROSS THE SERVICE AREA TO TRY TO, UH, ALLEVIATE SOME OF THE, THE PRICE SPIKES IN THE INDIVIDUAL NODES, LIKE WHERE THERE'S TRANSMISSION THAT GOES, THAT DOES GO INTO OUR ANALYSIS AND CONS NOW, NOW, PARTICULARLY AT THE LARGE SCALE. AND IF, IF YOU'LL NOTE IN THE RRC ITSELF, WE ACTUALLY MENTIONED ONE OF THE REASONS WE DIDN'T ORIGINALLY RECOMMEND THIS WAS FOR GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY. UM, EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN ALSO SEE IF YOU COMPARE BETWEEN THE, THE, THE RCA FIRM A FEW MONTHS AGO FOR, FOR OCI AND THIS ONE THAT THEY'RE VERY, VERY, VERY COMPARABLE IN TERMS OF, UH, THE ECONOMICS. UH, BUT THAT ONE OF THESE, UH, THE OCI WAS GOING TO BE IN A DIFFERENT LOCATION THAN THE, THAN THIS ONE WILL BE THE BALCONES TWO OR JUPITER ONE. AND SO THAT WAS APPEALING FOR THE REASONS THAT YOU MENTIONED THERE TO, TO MOVE, HAVE THINGS LOCATED IN DIFFERENT PORTIONS OF OUR SYSTEM TO HELP BETTER MANAGE, UH, FLOWS. UM, IN THIS CASE, WE'VE REEVALUATED THAT WE'RE GOOD WITH THE LOCATION, SO IT'S NOT, UM, UM, IT'S NOT A CONCERN. UM, BUT, UH, AS, AS FAR AS THIS, AGAIN, IT'S A UTILITY SCALE. AND SO IF YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT DISTRIBUTED, THAT'S YET ANOTHER LAYER THAT WE HAVE TO, UH, WE'LL BEGIN STUDYING AS WE DEPLOY THE, THE BASE SMALLER DISTRIBUTED UNITS. SO I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT BEHIND THE METER OR DISTRIBUTED, I'M TALKING ABOUT JUST SPREADING SOME MORE AROUND WHERE WE HAVE TRANSMISSION CONSTRAINTS FROM, SAY THE EAST SIDE, RIGHT. TO THE WEST SIDE OF THE SERVICE AREA. RIGHT. AND HOW MANY DIFFERENT, SO THERE'S ONE A EM LOAD ZONE, RIGHT? BUT HOW MANY DIFFERENT LMPS ARE THERE WITHIN THAT LOAD ZONE? I, I HAVE TO GO A LITTLE BIT, I HAVE TO GO A LOT BY MEMORY HERE, BUT THERE'S ROUGHLY, I BELIEVE 10, UH, METER POINTS, IF YOU WILL, THAT BASICALLY MAKE UP THE, THE, THE ZONE. AND THOSE DON'T ALL NECESSARILY CORRESPOND TO A, A SUBSTATION. OKAY. AND IF WE HAVE A COUPLE OF THOSE THAT ARE TRANSMISSION CONSTRAINT, EVEN JUST WITHIN THE SERVICE AREA, THAT CAN DRIVE UP THE PRICES, RIGHT? IT, IT CAN, THERE'S A NUMBER OF FACTORS THAT WOULD GO INTO IT THOUGH, HOW MUCH THE, HOW MUCH LOAD THERE, THERE REALLY IS AT THE GIVEN LOCATION VERSUS THE LOAD WE'RE TRYING TO SERVE. OKAY. AND HAVE YOU DETERMINED WHERE THE LOCATIONS ARE AND AND IS THAT ANNOUNCED OR IT'S NOT FOR, FOR THIS, FOR THIS, UH, WE, WE DEFINITELY KNOW. I CAN'T TELL YOU THAT, UH, FOR COMMERCIAL AND SECURITY REASONS AT THIS STAGE, BUT, UH, WE DEFINITELY KNOW WHERE THEY'RE GOING. OKAY. SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, IF YOU NEED TO HEAR ABOUT, OR WILL I BE ABLE TO LOOK IT UP IN GRID STATUS IO I WOULD IMAGINE. OKAY. UH, DID WE HAVE A QUESTION ONLINE? AL AND CYRUS? UH, YES. HI, PAT. UH, THIS IS 200 MEGAWATTS BY TWO HOURS, WHICH IS 400 MEGAWATT HOURS. SO THAT'S REALLY COMPARABLE IN SIZE TO THE OCI IN THE, IN TOTAL OF TOTAL ENERGY. IS THAT, IS THAT CORRECT? RIGHT. YES. SO IT IT REALLY, I'M SORRY, CAN IT BE USED? OH, I'M SORRY. I, I MAYBE I DIDN'T QUITE HEAR YOU. SO THIS IS, THIS IS 202 HOURS, RIGHT? RIGHT, RIGHT. SO IT'S ALSO 400 MEGAWATT HOURS IS WHAT I WAS ASKING. HE THINKS HE THINKS THE OCI WAS FOUR HOURS. IT WAS TWO NO, O YEAH, OCI WAS TWO HOURS AS WELL, THE PREVIOUS ONE. OH, WAS IT? OKAY. YES. WAS THERE AN ORIGINAL BATTERY THAT WAS FOUR HOURS? THAT, SO YES, THERE WAS ANOTHER BATTERY, LARGE SCALE UTILITY BATTERY APPROVED A LITTLE OVER ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF AGO NOW, ROUGHLY A YEAR AGO. UH, THAT WAS, OH, OKAY. SO THIS REALLY DOES GIVE US TWICE THE POWER THAT THE OCI PROJECT WOULD'VE. RIGHT, THAT'S THAT'S GOOD TO HEAR. SO IS THAT PROJECT THAT WAS APPROVED A YEAR AND A HALF AGO, IS THAT ONLINE YET? NO. NO, NOT YET. WHEN [00:25:01] DO YOU EXPECT THAT TO BE ON THAT? I BELIEVE THAT ONE'S DUE IN 2028. OKAY. CAN, CAN THIS BATTERY BE DISCHARGED AT DIFFERENT RATES? I MEAN, COULD YOU DISCHARGE IT AT A LOWER RATE FOR A LONGER TIME, OR IS, IS THAT A PRACTICAL OPERATION OF IT? YES. SO WHAT, WHAT YOU SEE WHEN WE PUT THESE IN THERE, YOU'RE BASICALLY SEEING THE MAXIMUM, IF YOU WILL, THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF INSTANTANEOUS DISCHARGE AND THE DURATION AT THAT MAXIMUM CAPABILITY. SO YOU CAN DIAL BACK, UH, AND, AND SPREAD THAT OUT OVER MORE HOURS. OKAY. AND THAT WOULD BE DONE UNDER YOUR, YOUR CONTROL ROOM, PEOPLE DOING THAT? YES. THEY'LL HAVE CONTROL OVER HOW, HOW THE BATTERIES ARE DISPATCHED. OKAY. SOUNDS GOOD. OKAY, CYRUS? YEAH, A COUPLE QUESTIONS. UM, FIRST QUESTION IS, UH, FROM PAUL, ROB. OOPS. DID HE FREEZE? HE DID FREEZE. HE, UM, IS THERE, I KNOW IN THE PAST I SERVED ON THE RMC AND TRADITIONALLY, OH, CAN YOU SEE IT? CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? WE CAN, CAN YOU HEAR ME OR AM I FROZEN? OKAY. I, THE FIRST QUESTION WAS, UM, SIMPLY, UM, YOU KNOW, IN THE PAST THESE TYPES OF CONTRACTS ALSO DID GO TO THE RM. IS THERE, IS THERE SOME REASON THAT ALSO THE TAKE THESE TYPE OF, UM, CONTRACTS FOR RENEWABLES OR STORAGE TO THE RMC AS WELL? WHAT'S IS WHO, WHO MADE THAT DECISION OR WHY HAVE YOU MADE THAT DECISION? I WILL HAVE TO DEFER THAT TO A COLLEAGUE OF MINE. I DON'T HAVE THE ANSWER TO THAT. OKAY. WELL, LET ME, CAN, BEFORE YOU GET TO THAT, LET ME ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT, JUST ABOUT THIS. UM, SO YOU GUYS HAD A, A PREVIOUS, UH, PROPOSED CONTRACT WITH OCI AND FOR WHATEVER REASONS IT, IT FELL THROUGH, BUT IS THIS, IS THE ECONOMICS OF THIS FAIRLY COMPARABLE, EVEN THOUGH IT'S TOWARDS THE, THEY'RE VERY, VERY COMPARABLE AFTER YOU ACCOUNT FOR THE SIZE AND I, I WILL WITHOUT, AND THEN, UM, GO AHEAD AND, AND CONGRATULATIONS ON, UH, I GUESS ASSUMING THIS THROUGH, YOU WOULD, YOU WOULD REACH THAT 300 MEGAWATT, UH, KIND OF A STUDY OR GOAL THAT WE HAD? YES, WE WILL. WE WILL MEET THE GOAL. THAT'S FOR THAT. AS I KNOW THAT THE CITY COUNCIL, UH, YEAH, AGO, WHENEVER IT WAS ALSO APPROVED, YOU GUYS, UM, GOING FORTH, UH, LOOKING AT SOME PEAKER PLANTS, UM, IS THE, UH, IS THE FACT THAT WE'RE GONNA BE GETTING MORE STORAGE, DOES THAT ALLOW YOU TO POTENTIALLY, UM, USE THE PROPOSED PEAKER PLANTS LESS OR EVEN REDUCE THE, THE SIZE OF THE PEAKER PLANTS? OR ARE THEY SERVING DIFFERENT CAPABILITIES OR FUNCTIONS? UH, IT'S THE LATTER. IT. OKAY. SO YOU DON'T AN THE FACT THAT WE'RE GETTING A LARGER SHARE OF BATTERIES DOESN'T NECESSARILY IMPACT THE CONTRACT FOR THE PEAKERS? I, I WOULD NOT EXPECT IT TO. OKAY. THANKS FOR THAT ANSWER. UM, I THINK, I THINK THAT'S ALL THE QUESTION. AND, AND JUST TO BE CLEAR, YOU, UM, JUPITER WILL OWN THE RESOURCE, BUT WE CAN USE IT FOR WHATEVER NEEDS. WE WANT ANCILLARY SERVICES. YES. I MEAN, THERE ARE LIMITED ENERGY, THERE ARE LIMIT LIMITATIONS IN ALL OF THE BATTERY AGREEMENTS, FOR EXAMPLE, AROUND HOW MANY CYCLES WE CAN APPLY OVER, OVER ANY GIVEN PERIOD OF TIME. BUT ASIDE FROM THAT, WE CAN USE IT, UM, WE CAN SCHEDULE IT AND USE IT, UH, IN WAYS THAT MAKE THE MOST ECONOMIC SENSE FOR US. OKAY. GREAT. THANKS SO MUCH. AND THEN IF ANYONE ELSE CAN ANSWER THAT QUESTION ABOUT WHY NOT ALSO, UH, WHY AREN'T WE, WE TAKING THESE TYPE OF CONTRACTS, ALSO, THE RMC, WHICH WAS TRADITION, YOU KNOW, WHICH WAS SORT OF THE TRADITION IN THE PAST. I, GOOD EVENING. STUART RILEY, AUSTIN ENERGY GENERAL MANAGER, UM, I BELIEVE AMY EVERHART JUST COMMUNICATED TO THE RMC TONIGHT, UM, ABOUT HOW WE'LL BE BRINGING CONTRACTS TO EUC RATHER THAN BRINGING CONTRACTS OF ALL VARIETIES TO TWO COMMISSIONS AND KIND OF DUPLICATING THOSE EFFORTS TO TWO COMMISSIONS. BUT WE'LL MAKE SURE THAT RMC STAYS UP TO SPEED ON EVERYTHING WE'RE DOING SO THAT THEY CAN CONTINUE TO PROVIDE ANY KIND [00:30:01] OF POLICY GUIDANCE OR ADVICE OR INPUT. OKAY. GREAT. AND IF THERE'S A WRITEUP OF THAT, IF YOU CAN SHARE IT WITH THE EUC THROUGH NIKKI OR THAT'D BE GREAT. SURE THING. JUST SO WE'RE AWARE. OKAY. THANKS. THANKS. OTHER QUESTIONS ON SEVEN? OKAY, WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. I'LL MAKE A MOTION ON THIS. LET'S GET BATTERIES GOING. OKAY, GO AHEAD. MOTION AND A SECOND. ALL IN FAVOR? LOOKS LIKE EVERYONE. OKAY. LET'S MOVE [8. Review and approve the Annual Internal Review of the Electric Utility Commission for July 2025 through June 2026. ] TO EIGHT, WHICH WAS THE ANNUAL INTERNAL REVIEW. THERE'S A NEW FORMAT THIS YEAR THAT WAS INTERESTING. SO I, I CREATED THIS AND AL REVIEWED IT BRIEFLY, BUT I THINK THAT THERE'S MAYBE ONE UPDATE I'D LIKE TO DO, UH, AFTER WE HAVE OUR DISCUSSION, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S THAT MEANINGFUL. UM, NIKKI, YOU WANT TO GUIDE US THROUGH THIS IS BASICALLY JUST GO THROUGH THE DOCUMENT AND SEE IF THERE'S ANY DISCUSSION. UH, YES. IF YOU WOULD GO AHEAD AND TAKE THE LEAD ON IT AS THIS IS A COMMISSION LED DOCUMENT AND JUST FOR EVERYONE'S AWARENESS, WHAT HAPPENED IS, IS THE CLERK'S OFFICE DID A STANDARDIZATION ACROSS ALL BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS. SO ALL THE BOARDS OF COMMISSIONS ARE ASKED THE SAME QUESTIONS. THEY ENTER THE SAME INFORMATION AND IT'S STANDARDIZED. AND THEN, UH, THEY WILL BE PUT ON EACH OF THE COMMISSION'S WEBSITES JUST AS THE LAST ONE IS AS LAST YEAR. SO THIS YEAR'S THE FIRST ONE WHERE IT'S JUST A STANDARDIZED TEMPLATE THAT THE CHAIR FILLED OUT AND PUT IN, AND THEN IT GOES BEFORE THE COMMISSION FOR YOUR VOTE AND APPROVAL FOR JULY 31ST. OKAY. SO CAN YOU, DOES EVERYBODY HAVE COPIES OR DO I'M JUST GONNA READ IT THEN. NOBODY HAS COPIES EXCEPT FOR ME. I, YEAH, I HAVE, IT WAS SENT OUT ELECTRONICALLY TO ALL MEMBERS. SO LET'S HIT IT FROM THE TOP AND SEE IF WE CAN GO THROUGH THIS, THE RIGHT RATE AND PACE. HAVE THE BOARD COMMISSION'S ACTIONS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR COMPLIED WITH THE CITY COUNCIL DIRECTIVES AND BYLAWS THAT SHOULD ADDRESS ALL ELEMENTS OF THE BOARD'S MISSION STATEMENT AS PROVIDED IN THE RELEVANT SECTIONS OF THE CITY CODE. I SAID YES, I THINK WE'RE COMPLIANT WITH THAT. NUMBER TWO IS, IF NO, EXPLAIN GOING TO THREE. THE ONLY RECOMMENDATION THAT I, THAT I THOUGHT WE HAD WAS 20 25, 10, 20 DASH 13. THAT WAS THE ONE TRYING TO SAVE MONEY BY STICKING WITH THE ORIGINAL AUSTIN ENERGY LOGO. UM, WE KNOW WHERE THAT WENT . SO, UM, ANYWAY, NO BIG DEAL ON THAT AND DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE. UH, WHICH RECOMMENDATIONS ARE ADJACENT TO THE ORGANIZATION'S CORE MISSION? I PUT THAT AS NOT ADJACENT BECAUSE IT'S SAVING MONEY. PLEASE SHARE ANY FURTHER CONTEXT THAT COULD SUPPORT OR EXPLAIN YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS. WELL, NOT APPLICABLE. IS THERE ANOTHER BODY THAT OVERLAPS WITH THE ROLE AND WORK OF THE BOARD? YEAH, I PUT NO, BUT I THINK A CORRECTED ANSWER IS REALLY YES. WITH RMC IN CERTAIN WAYS. WHEN I LOOK AT BOTH THE, THE ARTICLES, UM, THE BYLAWS FOR EACH, I MEAN, WE TAKE CARE OF AUSTIN ENERGY, WE ADDRESS AUSTIN ENERGY'S CUSTOMER SERVICES, FUEL COSTS, CHARGES, RATE STRUCTURE, CAPITAL INVESTMENT, NEW GENERATION FACILITIES, SELECTION OF TYPES OF FUELS, BUDGET, STRATEGIC PLANNING, REGULATORY COMPLIANCE, BILLING PROCEDURES, TRANSFER OF ELECTRIC UTILITY REVENUES FROM THE UTILITY TO THE, TO THE GENERAL FUND, THE GFT WHERE ADVISORS TO THE CITY COUNCIL MANAGER, THE UTILITY COMMISSION, UH, ALSO TO THE UTILITY ITSELF AND OTHER CITY DEPARTMENTS AND OTHER BOARDS ANYWAY. UM, BUT THE RMC DEALS WITH NATURAL GAS, UH, UTILITY AS WELL, AND THE EFFICIENT USE OF ENERGY, ALTERNATIVE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES. AND SO I THINK THERE'S OVERLAP WHEN WE TALK ABOUT NEW CAPEX FOR NEW GENERATION AND FUEL SOURCES BECAUSE THEY'RE LOOKING AT THAT TOO. SO I THINK THAT'S ONE, UM, YEAH, RECEIVE PUBLIC INPUT ON ALTERNATE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES, RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES, AND ON ENERGY CONSERVATION. I THINK THAT'S SOMEWHAT OVERLAPPED. MM-HMM . BUT I MEAN, AND, AND WE'D LIKE TO SEE ALSO THE STATUS OF ENERGY CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES THAT'S MORE IN THEIR PURVIEW, BUT WE'D LIKE TO SEE IT. UM, SO I, I, I MOVE THAT WE, I'M GONNA AMEND [00:35:01] THAT WITH THE, UM, CITY CLERK, I GUESS, OR YES, TO REVISE THE DOCUMENT ITSELF, YOU'LL NEED TO SUBMIT TO THE CLERK, BUT IF YOU'RE WANTING TO VOTE ON A AMENDED VERSION OF THIS, YOU'LL NEED TO PROVIDE THAT LANGUAGE FOR THAT VOTE. OR OTHERWISE THE EUC WILL BE VOTING ON IT AS IT'S WRITTEN HERE. MM-HMM . UM, SO IF YOU HAVE SPECIFIC LANGUAGE YOU'RE WANTING TO AMEND, PLEASE HAVE THAT WRITTEN OUT SO YOU CAN READ IT INTO THE RECORD AND THEN ALSO PROVIDE THAT TO THE CLERK'S OFFICE. AND SO IF YOU WANT TO COME BACK TO THIS ITEM WHILE YOU WORK ON THAT LANGUAGE, THAT'S FINE. OR IF YOU WANNA TAKE A MINUTE TO WORK WITH THE COMMISSIONERS TO COME UP WITH THAT LANGUAGE. SO LET'S GO THROUGH THE REST OF IT SURE. BECAUSE I THINK THE REST WILL BE UNCONTROVERSIAL AND THEN I'LL CRAFT THAT FOR A FEW MINUTES. UM, DO THE BYLAWS NEED UPDATING? I SAID NO. DOES ANYBODY HAVE AN INPUT ON THAT? OKAY. ON A SCALE TO OF ONE TO 10, HOW ENGAGED ARE THE BOARD OR COMMISSION MEMBERS? I, THIS MAY BE PROJECTION , YOU KNOW, OR I'M ENGAGED IN, UH, ENGAGED WITH THE COMMUNITY ON THESE THINGS, SO I PUT NINE FOR THE BOARD. AND THEN HOW ENGAGED IS THE COMMUNITY? WE SEEM TO HAVE A LOT OF INPUT, SO I PUT 10 ON THAT. WE HAVE NO LACK OF INPUT BY DIFFERENT PEOPLE IT SEEMS LIKE. UM, ANY COMMENTS ON THOSE? OKAY, I HEAR THAT. OKAY. UH, PLEASE PROVIDE ANY RELEVANT DETAILS OR EXAMPLES THAT INFLUENCE THESE RATINGS. UH, FOR THE EUC ONE OF THESE ISSUES, ONE OF THE ISSUES THAT COMMANDED AN EXTREMELY LARGE AMOUNT OF FOCUS WAS AUSTIN ENERGY'S RESOURCE GENERATION AND CLIMATE ACTION PLAN TO 2035. WITH EUC AND ENGAGEMENT AND SUPPORT, AE HAS TAKEN MANY ACTIONS TO ADVANCE ENERGY EFFICIENCY, DEMAND RESPONSE, LOCAL SOLAR BATTERIES, AND MORE TRANSMISSION IMPORT CAPACITY. HOWEVER, OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST YEAR THAT HAD, THERE HAS BEEN CONSIDERABLE CONTROVERSY RELATED TO THE NEW PROPOSED NATURAL GAS PEAKER PLANTS. THE EUC SPENT CONSIDERABLE TIME AND EFFORT TO FOSTER THOUGHTFUL DEBATE IN CONSTRUCTIVE FORUMS AND ADVISE THE AE MANAGEMENT AND CITY COUNCIL. OKAY. DO YOU SEE ANY GAPS IN IMPORTANT POLICIES THAT ARE NOT CURRENTLY COVERED BY THE BOARD OR COMMISSION? I SAID NO. I THINK IF YOU LOOK AT OUR BYLAWS, IT'S . DID YOU MENTION, UM, ADOPTION OF NEW, UH, ENERGY BUILDING CODES? THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE LOOK AT. I DON'T KNOW. I REVIEW, UH, REVIEW AND . I DIDN'T READ COMPREHENSIVELY ALL. WHAT'S IN THE BYLAWS? OH, OKAY. UM, I MEAN, I'M JUST GOING THROUGH. C IS MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION ON PROPOSED ELECTRIC, ELECTRIC UTILITY PROJECTS FOR INCLUSION IN THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT. I HIRE A CONSULTANT EVERY FIVE YEARS TO MAKE A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES. YEAH. AND THEN ON PAGE TWO, ARTICLE THREE IS MEMBERSHIP. SO THE FIRST PAGE IS COMPREHENSIVE. SO CYRUS, UM, I'M NOT IMMEDIATELY SEEING THAT IN HERE, DO YOU THINK? UM, WE COULD, UM, WE'VE GOT A, A BULLET SAYS, CONTINUE TO REVIEW AND ADVISE ON THE AUSTIN ENERGY, STANDARD SOLAR OFFER, A COMMUNITY SOLAR PROGRAM. UH, I DON'T THINK IT WOULD GO THERE. UM, WE COULD SAY, CONTINUE TO RE REVIEW AND ADVISE ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE AUSTIN ENERGY GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM AND BASE, UH, ENERGY BUILDING CODES, SOMETHING LIKE THAT. JUST ADD A BULLET, CONTINUE TO REVIEW, REVIEW AND REV CLEAN ENERGY. YOU WANNA CON CONTINUE TO REVIEW AND ADVISE ON AUSTIN ENERGY'S GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM AND ADOPTION OF BASE ENERGY CODES. [00:40:05] THE BASE ENERGY CODES ARE THE MINIMUMS, AND THEN THE GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM ARE THE KIND OF EXTRA STARS FOR DOING EXTRA STUFF. AND WE, WE PERIODICALLY LOOK AT THOSE. OKAY. SO CONTINUE TO REVIEW AND ADVISE ON A'S GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM AND BASE ENERGY CODES AND ADOPTION OF BASE ENERGY CODES. I THINK THAT THAT'S MORE OR LESS WHAT WE DO. OKAY. CONTINUE TO REVIEW AND ADVISE ON A E'S GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM AND ADOPTION OF BASE ENERGY CODES. OKAY. SO NIKKI, DO YOU HAVE THAT OR SHOULD I, OKAY, SO LET'S GO BACK. I THINK THAT GOES THROUGH ALL, NOW WE HAVE TO JUST LOOK AT THE RMC OVERLAP. CYRUS AND KABA, YOU'RE BOTH OLD HANDS AT THIS. DO YOU WANNA GIVE A HAND ON THIS? MAYBE SOMETHING, OH, GO AHEAD. KABA. GO AHEAD. GO AHEAD SARAH. I WAS GONNA SAY THERE IS, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE RIGHT WORD IS. THERE IS MODEST OVERLAP OR LIMITED OVERLAP WITH THE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COMMISSION SINCE BOTH, UH, BOTH BODIES LOOK AT ALTERNATIVE AND RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES AND COMMUNITY ENERGY SOLUTIONS. SOMETHING LIKE THAT. MAYBE, I DON'T KNOW IF SOMEONE'S WRITING THAT DOWN. I'M, I'M WORKING ON IT RIGHT NOW. THERE'S PROBABLY A BETTER WAY TO WORD THAT, BUT, OKAY. LIMITED OVERLAP WITH RMC SINCE BOTH BODIES REVIEW AND ADVISE ON FUEL TYPES, NEW GENERATION SOURCES AND EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS. YEAH, I'D SUGGESTED, YOU KNOW, UH, RATHER THAN EFFICIENCY COMM COMMUNITY PROGRAMS OR COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS, JUST BECAUSE THAT WOULD THEN INCLUDE THINGS LIKE ONSITE SOLAR STORAGE. BUT THAT, I, I THINK WE GET THE IDEA. IT'S, IT'S UP TO YOU. OKAY. COMMUNITY AL, YOU HAD AN INPUT? UM, I HAVE A, I DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT WORDING, BUT I HAVE A PERSPECTIVE THAT BACK IN THE LAST MILLENNIA WHEN THESE TWO COMMISSIONS WERE FORMED, UH, THE EUC WAS CONCERNED WITH GENERATION, WHICH IN THAT CASE MEANT BIG GENERATORS LIKE GAS PLANTS AND COAL PLANTS. THE RMC WAS CONCERNED WITH LOCAL POWER GENERATION. THAT WAS PRETTY MINUSCULE. WE WERE LOOKING AT THEORETICAL, SMALL AMOUNTS OF SOLAR OR, UH, ENERGY EFFICIENCY, YOU KNOW, INSULATION, ALL THIS KIND OF STUFF, WEATHERIZATION. BUT OVER THE YEARS, THOSE HAVE GROWN IN SCALE SO THAT THEY'RE NOW SIGNIFICANT PARTS OF THE GENERATION PLAN. AND SO OUR PURVIEW IS MORE LOOKING AT HOW DOES THIS TOTAL OF SOLAR, HOW DOES THIS TOTAL OF BATTERIES, LOCAL BATTERIES, HOW DOES INSULATION AND WEATHERIZATION CONTRIBUTE TO OUR GENERATION MIX? WELL, AS THE RMC IS MORE LOOKING AT THE INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS AND HOW TO MAXIMIZE THOSE FOR THE, THE CONSUMERS AND RATE PAYERS. SO IT'S, WE'RE DEALING WITH THE SAME THINGS, BUT MAYBE WITH A, THROUGH A DIFFERENT WINDOW. CHRIS, MARK, ANYTHING? I'M JUST READING THROUGH THIS AND, UH, I, I THINK IT'S FAIR TO SAY THAT IT'S NOT A TOTAL DUPLICATION 'CAUSE WE'RE LOOKING AT IT FROM, FROM A, A PERSPECTIVE THAT'S A LITTLE DIFFERENT. YEAH. YEAH. JUST SAY THAT THE RMCS BYLAWS SAY THAT THEY MAINTAIN AN OVERVIEW OF ALL PROGRAM STUDIES AND PROPOSALS CONCERNING THE EFFICIENT USE OF ENERGY. THAT'S HOW IT STARTS OFF. SO THAT'S A PRETTY BROAD BRUSH THERE. MM-HMM . WITH A LOT OF OVERLAP. HOW ABOUT WHEN YOU, WHEN YOU GET TO A HUNDRED, YOU KNOW, A THOUSAND MEGAWATT OR A HUNDRED MEGAWATTS OF SAVINGS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, THEN IT'S BECOMES A GENERATION PLANT COMPONENT. WELL, LET ME GIVE YOU ONE DRAFT HERE. EUC HAS SOME LIMITED OVERLAP WITH RMC [00:45:01] SINCE BOTH BODIES REVIEW AND ADVISE ON FUEL TYPES, GENERATION SOURCES AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS. IS THAT REASONABLE? I THINK SO. OKAY. AL YOU'VE GOT YOUR HAND UP STILL. I'LL TAKE IT DOWN. , . I DO THINK IT'S REASONABLE. SO THANK, I MEAN, WITHOUT GETTING WAY INTO THE WEEDS, IT'S A REASONABLE THING TO SAY. I, I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH FORCE THIS DOCUMENT WILL HAVE. IT'S JUST INFORMATIONAL, I BELIEVE. YEAH. CYRUS, COMMISSIONER ALVAREZ, ANY INPUT OR IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH? THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH. ALTHOUGH I'M SHOCKED THAT WE ONLY HAD ONE RECOMMENDATION. UM, I GUESS WHAT YOU MEAN IS RECOMMENDATION NOT OUTSIDE OF, UM, ONE APPROVED RECOMMENDATION OUTSIDE OF JUST THE NORMAL THINGS THAT WE APPROVE ALL THE TIME. YES, YES. OKAY. AND, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, WE ALSO HAD DIFFERENT ENGAGEMENTS WITH OUR RESPECTIVE CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS AND AE SO THERE WAS A LOT OF ACTIVITY ON THAT, MORE THAN FORMAL RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COUNCIL, RIGHT? YEAH, I I WILL SAY THAT I THINK THE FACT THAT WE HAD ONE RECOMMENDATION PERHAPS MIGHT LEAD ONE TO REDUCE THE ENGAGEMENT LEVEL DOWN FROM A NINE, BUT THAT'S JUST ME. WELL, IS THAT ENGAGEMENT WITH THE COMMUNITY THOUGH? WE CAN PUT IT AT NINE. I'M FINE WITH THAT. JUST, JUST SHARING MY OPINION. OKAY. I'LL MOVE THE QUESTION 14 FROM A 10 TO A NINE. OKAY. I THOUGHT YOU ALREADY HAD A NINE, BUT YEAH. OKAY. OKAY, SO I'LL GO OVER ALL THE EDITS. OKAY, SO WE HAVE ON EIGHT INSTEAD OF A NO, WE HAVE A YES. NINE. WITH WHICH BODY? RMC 10. THE ADDITION OF EUC HAS SOME LIMITED OVERLAP WITH RMC SINCE BOTH BODIES REVIEW AND ADVISE ON FUEL TYPES, GENERATION SOURCES AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS. OKAY. 14, 10 GOING TO NINE 18. A NEW BULLET AT THE END CONTINUE TO REVIEW AND ADVISE ON A E'S GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM AND BASE IN ADOPTION OF BASE ENERGY CODES. OKAY, SO WITH THAT, IS EVERYONE COMFORTABLE WITH THIS ANNUAL REPORT? OKAY. ALRIGHT, SO MOTION. SECOND. SECOND. OKAY. ALL IN FAVOR, . I'M GONNA ABSTAIN. I DON'T THINK THAT THE COMMISSION WAS ENGAGED WITH THE COMMUNITY, BUT THAT'S FINE. OKAY, SO WE HAVE ONE ABSTENTION. OKAY, SO WE'VE GOTTEN THROUGH EIGHT, NOW WE'RE AT NINE. [9. Staff Briefing on the implementation of Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035 by Lisa Martin, Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer.] STAFF BRIEFING ON AE RESOURCE GENERATION AND CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN TO 2035. LISA. ALL RIGHT. UH, GOOD EVENING CHAIR, TUTTLE, VICE CHAIR, BRADEN AND COMMISSION MEMBERS. I'M LISA MARTIN AUSTIN ENERGY ENERGY'S CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, AND TONIGHT I HAVE THE SEMI-ANNUAL UPDATE FOR AUSTIN ENERGY'S RESOURCE GENERATION AND CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN 2 20 35. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. WE'RE GONNA COVER THE LATEST DATA I HAVE ON KEY METRICS, AS WELL AS A FEW IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS. NEXT SLIDE. AND WHENEVER POSSIBLE, WE'RE GONNA SHOW PRELIMINARY DATA THROUGH FY 26 Q2, AND IN SOME CASES THE LATEST I HAVE IS VALIDATED DATA FROM YEAR END FY 25. I'LL SPECIFY WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT AS WE GO THROUGH THE SLIDES. ALRIGHT, SO STARTING HERE. UM, HERE WE SEE OUR TRENDING PROGRESS TOWARDS THE CARBON FREE GOAL. AND AS A REMINDER, THESE NUMBERS SHOW THE PERCENTAGE OF ENERGY CONSUMED BY AUSTIN ENERGY CUSTOMERS. THAT IS OFFSET BY CARBON FREE GENERATION SOURCES. THAT IS, THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS LOOKING AT THE CARBON FREE PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL ENERGY GENERATED. IF WE WERE LOOKING AT THAT, THOSE NUMBERS WOULD BE HIGHER, BUT LOOKING AT THE FAR RIGHT BAR, YOU'LL SEE THAT FY OR FISCAL YEAR TO DATE WE'RE AT 67%. WE'RE PLEASED TO SEE THE UPTICK FROM THE PAST TWO YEARS, THOUGH AS [00:50:01] A LEVEL SET. I SHOULD SAY THAT Q1 AND Q2 TEND TO HAVE HIGHER RENEWABLE PERCENTAGES OVERALL, THE GOAL AS STATED IN THE SUBHEADER, IS 100% CARBON FREE GENERATION AS A PERCENTAGE OF LOAD BY 2035. AND AS WE CONTINUE IMPLEMENTING THE 2035 PLAN WITH MORE LOCAL SOLAR IMPORT CAPACITY, INCREASES WIND AND SOLAR ADDITIONS AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS, WE LOOK TO SEE AN UPTICK IN THIS METRIC KNOWING THAT CHALLENGES LIKE LOAD GROWTH AND CONGESTION AND CURTAILMENT WILL CONTINUE TO WORK AGAINST PROGRESS. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. NOW I'M SHIFTING TO STACK EMISSIONS AND CARBON INTENSITY. THESE NUMBERS ARE VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT I PRESENTED SIX MONTHS AGO WHEN I ONLY HAD PRELIMINARY DATA. NOW THESE REPRESENT OFFICIAL CALENDAR YEAR 2025 VALUES AND CALCULATIONS ON THE LEFT SIDE. IN THE GREEN COLOR, YOU SEE THAT OUR ACTUAL STACK EMISSIONS, BOTH CARBON DIOXIDE AND NI NITROGEN OXIDES REMAIN AT RECORD LOWS. ON THE RIGHT SIDE, WE'RE LOOKING AT HOW MUCH CARBON IS PRODUCED PER MEGAWATT HOUR OF ENERGY GENERATED OR THE CARBON INTENSITY, THE GUARDRAIL IS SHOWN AS THE DOTTED LINE. THE TOP GRAPH SHOWS THE INTENSITY ACROSS ALL OF OUR GENERATION. AND SEEING THE 2025 BAR BELOW THE GUARDRAIL MEANS THE ENERGY WE GENERATE CONTINUES TO COME FROM A MAJORITY OF CARBON FREE RESOURCES WHEN NARROWING IT INTO JUST LOCAL GENERATION, WHICH IS THE GRAPH ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT, YOU SEE THE BAR FOR 2025 IS JUST SLIGHTLY AT OR ABOVE THE GUARDRAIL. AND AS I MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, THAT'S RELATED TO A FEW FACTORS. IN PART, IT WAS A MILD WEATHER YEAR, WHICH MEANS THAT WE HAD LOWER LOADS AND THEREFORE OUR LOCAL RESOURCES GENERATED LESS IN 2025 THAN THEY DID IN THE PREVIOUS YEAR, 2024. ADDITIONALLY, OUTAGES TO THE SANDHILL COMBINED CYCLE REQUIRED US TO RELY ON OTHER GENERATORS MORE THAN TYPICAL. UM, AND SO, UH, LOWER GENERATION OVERALL, BUT IT WAS MORE CARBON INTENSE ON A PER MEGAWATT HOUR BASIS. THESE TYPES OF FLUCTUATIONS ARE EXPECTED FROM TIME TO TIME, GIVEN THE OVERALL NATURE OF OPERATIONS. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. THIS SLIDE SHOWS THE 20 YEAR HISTORY OF STACK EMISSIONS FROM A PEAK NEAR 6 MILLION TO TODAY'S VALUE OF UNDER 2.5, IT'S A VERY SIGNIFICANT 60% REDUCTION. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. NOW WE'RE GONNA SHIFT GEARS TO OTHER GOALS, UH, CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS AREAS. HERE WE SEE ENERGY EFFICIENCY, UM, ON THE LEFT 866 MEGAWATTS OF ENERGY SAVINGS AS OF FY 25 WITH 109 MEGAWATTS REMAINING TO REACH OUR 2027 GOAL. ON THE RIGHT, WE HAVE 30 MEGAWATTS OF THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE CAPACITY AS OF FY 25 AND 10 MEGAWATTS REMAINING TO REACH OUR 2030 GOAL. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. LOOKING AT DEMAND RESPONSE, YOU'LL RECALL WE HAD A RECORD YEAR IN FY 25 55 MEGAWATTS OF CONFIRMED REDUCTION DURING THE SUMMER NEEDS. OUR 2027 GOAL IS 78 MEGAWATTS, AND THE 2035 GOAL IS 270 MEGAWATTS. AND THERE ARE SEVERAL EFFORTS UNDERWAY, INCLUDING CUSTOMER CITED BATTERIES AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGE MANAGEMENT TO HELP US REACH THESE GOALS. SO LISA IS, IS GOING TO 12 CP FOR FOUR C. IS THAT GONNA HELP THE ECONOMICS OR HURT THE ECONOMICS OF OUR DR PROGRAMS? IS IT GOING TO HELP THE ECONOMICS OR HURT THE ECONOMICS OF OUR DR PROGRAMS? YEAH, SO THE PAYBACK FOR IT, IS IT GOING TO MAKE IT MORE ATTRACTIVE TO HAVE MORE DR OR I WOULDN'T SAY LESS AT ATTRACT, WELL, LESS FRUITFUL IN TERMS OF THE SAVINGS FOR TRANSMISSION. I DON'T KNOW THAT I'VE THOUGHT THAT ONE ALL THE WAY THROUGH YET. UM, AND I I THINK IT MAYBE MIGHT DEPEND ON EXACTLY WHAT FORMAT OR YOU KNOW, WHAT THE ACTUAL 12 CP PROGRAM ULTIMATELY LOOKS LIKE. UM, I WILL SAY THAT SOME OF THE, UH, RESOURCES THAT WE HAVE IN OUR DEMAND RESPONSE PROGRAM ARE MORE SUMMER LEANING. AND YOU KNOW THAT ONE OF THE GOALS OF THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN IS TO ALSO HAVE, YOU KNOW, WINTER DEMAND RESPONSE TYPE PROGRAMS. SO BATTERIES ARE AN EXAMPLE THAT ARE KIND OF AGNOSTIC TO SEASON. SO I THINK TIME WILL TELL, BUT CERTAINLY AS THAT REGULATION TAKES FORM, I KNOW OUR TEAMS WILL BE LOOKING CLOSELY AT HOW OUR PROGRAMS CAN BE, UM, YOU KNOW, DEVELOPED, UH, AS THEY CONTINUE TO, TO GROW, UM, TO HELP MEET THE NEEDS FOR OUR CUSTOMERS. SO WHEN DO YOU THINK THAT'LL GET CLOSED AND WHEN DO YOU THINK WE CAN GET AN UPDATE? IT'S MONTHS AWAY. I KNOW, BUT THE REGULATORY COMPONENT COMPONENT OF IT. YEAH, I THOUGHT I HEARD IT WASN'T TILL DECEMBER. AM I MAKING THAT UP A COMMENT? YEAH, THERE THEY SAID THEY WILL HAVE IT ALL DONE BY DECEMBER, BUT IF THERE'S A PROPOSAL OUT NOW FOR COMMENT AND THE COMMENTS ARE DUE IN AUGUST, BUT THEY SAID THEY'RE NOT REALLY, I THINK THEY'RE ANTICIPATING THAT IT WOULD GO INTO EFFECT IN DECEM. THEY WOULD, YOU KNOW, APPROVE IT AND IT WOULD GO INTO EFFECT IN DECEMBER. SO IT REALLY WOULDN'T GO INTO EFFECT [00:55:01] UNTIL, I GUESS NEXT YEAR THERE'S GONNA NEED TO BE A TRANS AS SOMEBODY ELSE. SORRY, . BUT YEAH, I DON'T, IT'S NOT IMMEDIATE AND I'M HEARING THERE'S GOING TO NEED TO BE A TRANS TRANSITION PERIOD AFTER THE RULE IS ADOPTED. SO I DON'T THINK THIS IS A 2026 THING TO PUT ON OUR CALENDAR, BUT MAYBE EARLY 2027. OKAY. OKAY. UM, IN TERMS OF OUR LOCAL SOLAR TEAM, THEY TRACK INSTALLATIONS AS THEY GO. AND OUR PRELIMINARY NUMBERS AS OF, UH, Q2 OF FY 26 SHOW 199 MEGAWATTS INSTALLED. THAT MEANS WE'RE JUST SIX MEGAWATTS AWAY FROM THE 2027 GOAL, AND WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO SURPASSING THAT ON THE WAY TO THE 405 MEGAWATT GOAL FOR 2035. DESPITE GROWING CHALLENGES, OUR SOLAR TEAMS CONTINUE TO MAKE BOTH INNOVATIVE AND PRACTICAL CHANGES TO SUPPORT CUSTOMERS. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. FINALLY, OUR LOCAL BATTERY STORAGE GOAL. WE HAVE JUST OVER 16 MEGAWATTS INSTALLED AND OPERATING AS OF Q2 FY 26. AS YOU KNOW, WE HAVE 140 MEGAWATTS IN DEVELOPMENT AND SLATED TO COME ONLINE BY THE END OF 2027, WHICH WILL SURPASS OUR GOAL OF 1 125 MEGAWATTS. OUR TEAMS ARE CURRENTLY WORKING WITH THOSE CONTRACTORS TO BRING THE APPROVED PROJECTS TO COMMERCIAL OPERATION, AND AS YOU HEARD AND VOTED ON EARLIER TONIGHT, WE'RE BRINGING A 200 MEGAWATT BATTERY TO COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL THIS MONTH. THAT'S NOT SHOWING ON THIS SLIDE. SO WHEN YOU SAY LOCAL BATTERY, THIS IS JUST THE UTILITY SCALE. THIS IS NOT BEHIND THE METER. THIS DOES INCLUDE IT BEHIND THE METER TOO. IT DOES INCLUDE, INCLUDES ALL OF IT. OKAY. YEP. ALL RIGHT. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. WRAPPING UP THIS SECTION, HERE'S THE SUMMARY. LOOK AT ALL OF OUR CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS GOALS. YOU CAN SEE WE'RE WELL ON OUR WAY TO MEETING OR EXCEEDING THE 2027 AND 2030 GOALS. ALL RIGHT. UH, NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. WE'RE GONNA TURN OUR ATTENTION TO A FEW KEY PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS, STARTING WITH OUR BATTERY DEMAND RESPONSE PILOT. AS OF ABOUT A MONTH AGO WHEN THESE SLIDES WERE PUT TOGETHER, WE HAVE 121 ENROLLED CUSTOMERS WITH 212 TOTAL ENROLLED BATTERY UNITS. AS YOU MAY RECALL, THIS IS A YEAR-ROUND COMPONENT, UH, WHICH PROVIDES A NICE BOOST TO THE EXISTING DEMAND RESPONSE PROGRAM. AND WE'RE SEEING 1.6 MEGAWATTS OF AGGREGATED DISCHARGE CAPACITY THUS FAR, AND THIS PROGRAM IS GROWING. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. THANK YOU. UH, STILL ON THE TOPIC OF BATTERIES. UM, I'M SORRY, COMMISSIONER REED, DID YOU HAVE A QUESTION? WELL, MY QUESTION WAS, ARE THE NUMBERS YOU JUST SHOWED RELATED TO THIS BASE POWER OR THESE, THIS IS A DIFFERENT PROGRAM THAN THE BASE POWER PROGRAM. THIS IS A DIFFERENT PROGRAM. THIS IS THE BATTERY DEMAND RESPONSE PILOT WHERE CUSTOMERS WHO OWN THEIR BATTERIES CAN ENROLL IN OUR DEMAND RESPONSE. OKAY. SOMEBODY ALREADY OWNS VERSUS BASE POWER IS BASICALLY NEW BATTERIES. CORRECT. GOT IT. YEP. SO STILL ON THE TOPIC OF BATTERIES. NOW LET'S LOOK AT THE STATUS OF THE BASE POWER BATTERY AGREEMENT BASE INSTALLED THEIR FIRST SYSTEMS IN AUSTIN IN LATE JUNE AND DID A MORE FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT LAST WEEK. THESE UNITS HAVEN'T HIT COMMERCIAL OPERATION YET, BUT THAT'S FORTHCOMING ON THE AUSTIN ENERGY SIDE. WE'RE BEGINNING TO INTEGRATE THE RESOURCES INTO OUR PORTFOLIO, AND BASE EXPECTS TO REACH FULL SYSTEM CAPACITY OF 40 MEGAWATTS BY MID TO LATE 2027. THE GOOD NEWS IS WE WON'T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THEN FOR THE BENEFIT OF THESE ADDITIONAL RESOURCES. AS BASE INSTALLS MORE BATTERIES FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS, AUSTIN ENERGY IMMEDIATELY ADDS THE RESOURCES TO THE PORTFOLIO MAKING THEM AVAILABLE FOR DISPATCH. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. WE SPOKE ABOUT LOCAL SOLAR PROGRESS SEVERAL SLIDES AGO, AND THIS SLIDE DELVES INTO THE STANDARD SOLAR OFFER PROGRAM. MORE SPECIFICALLY AS OF Q2 FY 26, THERE WERE 5.5 MEGAWATTS OF COMMUNITY SOLAR, UH, CAPACITY INSTALLED WITH THAT GREEN PORTION ON THE TOP. UM, AS, UH, COMING FROM STANDARDS OFFER, UM, THERE'S AN ADDITIONAL 10 MEGAWATTS IN THE QUEUE ALL FROM STANDARD OFFER, UH, WHICH WILL NEARLY TRIPLE THE COMMUNITY SOLAR CAPACITY. SO A LOT OF PROGRESS HERE. AND THEN, UH, FINAL SLIDE. UM, THERE'S ALWAYS A LOT GOING ON IN TERMS OF TRANSMISSION, BUT I'D LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT SOME PROGRESS ON A PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT PROJECT. WE'RE MOVING THROUGH THE REGULATORY STEPS AND MAKING HEADWAY ON A NEW 138 KILOVOLT LINE THAT WILL INCREASE OUR IMPORT CAPACITY BY ABOUT 200 MEGAWATTS. THIS PROJECT IS UNDER ERCOT REVIEW AND WILL THEN WILL FILE FOR THE STATE PERMIT AND CONTINUE OUR PATH TO COMMERCIAL OPERATION. WE'RE HOPING FOR, OR WE'RE AIMING FOR 2029. THIS PROJECT THEN LEADS INTO A FUTURE PHASE WHERE WE'LL LOOK TO UPGRADE SEVERAL LINES TO A HIGHER VOLTAGE. DOING SO WILL INCREASE IMPORT CAPACITY SUBSTANTIALLY ALONG A KEY PATH A FEW YEARS LATER. THESE TYPES OF PROJECTS HELP RELIABILITY, AFFORDABILITY, AND CLEAN ENERGY OBJECTIVES WHILE ALSO PREPARING FOR GROW A GROWING SYSTEM. [01:00:01] AL I SEE HAND, I SEE TWO HANDS. I THINK, UH, I'M, I'M VERY HAPPY TO SEE BOTH OF THESE, UH, PROJECTS. I WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD GIVE A SENSE OF SCALE FOR THE UPGRADED LINES. UH, HOW, HOW MANY MEGAWATTS DO YOU ANTICIPATE MORE, UH, COULD COME INTO TOWN THROUGH THOSE? UM, IT'S, UH, STILL TO BE DETERMINED, BUT IT IS, UM, SEVERAL TIMES WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT. UH, THE, THE ADDED CAPACITY FOR PHASE ONE. MM-HMM . SO COULD BE, UH, 800, A THOUSAND MEGAWATTS, A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT THAT THAT WOULD MAKE A, A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE. YES, SIR. TERRIFIC. CYRUS, DID YOU HAVE A QUESTION? I, OH, I DIDN'T, DID I NEVER LOWER MY HAND? UM, ACTUALLY DO HAVE A, A QUESTION. UM, LEE, AS, AS YOU AND I HAVE TALKED A LOT ABOUT CITY COUNCIL DID GIVE YOU GUYS THE AUTHORITY TO START NEGOTIATING FOR ADDITIONAL PEAKERS. IS THERE A TIMELINE WHEN YOU GUYS WOULD ACTUALLY KNOW, YOU KNOW, WHEN, WHEN THOSE WOULD, WHEN YOU WOULD BE BEGIN, YOU KNOW, I GUESS NOT, NOT OPERATION BUT BEGIN INSTALLATION OR IDENTIFYING ACTUAL LOCATIONS, IS THAT, IS THAT STILL IN THE NEGOTIATION PHASE OR WHERE, WHAT, WHAT'S KIND OF THE TIMELINE? SO WE'VE BEEN WORKING OFF OF, YOU KNOW, WHAT WE'VE BEEN SAYING, WHAT WE SAID TO, UM, TO, YOU KNOW, TO YOU AND TO CITY COUNCIL DURING THE QUESTIONS BACK IN MAY, UM, IS THAT WE ANTICIPATE THE, UH, LEAD TIME FOR THESE, UH, UNITS IS, UH, ABOUT THREE YEARS. UM, AND THEN WITH COMMERCIAL OPERATION THE FOLLOWING YEAR, SO I'VE BEEN SAYING ROUGHLY 20, 29, 20 30, UM, IF SOMEONE PINS ME DOWN ON A DATE, I GENERALLY TEND TO SAY 2030 IS WHEN WE'RE ANTICIPATING THE FIRST WILL COME ONLINE. AND, AND AS PART OF SOME OF THOSE RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY CITY COUNCIL, YOU WOULD, YOU WOULD STILL HAVE TO WORK TO DEVELOP THE, UM, ADMISSIONS GUIDELINES AND THE ANY COMMUNITY BENEFIT DEPENDING ON WHERE THEY WERE LOCATED, THAT WOULD ALL OCCUR BEFORE OPERATIONS OR THAT IS CORRECT. UM, I'M GOING OFF OF MEMORY, BUT I THINK EACH ONE OF THOSE HAS A, YOU KNOW, REPORT BACK TO A STATE THAT IS IN ADVANCE OF THAT 20 27, 20 28, SOMETHING LIKE THAT. OKAY, GREAT. THANKS. I, OKAY, BUT DO YOU HAVE YOUR HAND UP? YOU'RE IN A SMALL WINDOW. YEAH, SORRY. UM, I WAS, UH, WONDERING ABOUT THE ON THE BATTERY PROGRAM, UH, THE ONE WITH BASE AND SPECIFICALLY I, LIKE, I CLICKED THROUGH ON THAT, UM, AND AT LEAST WHAT I WAS OFFERED, WHICH WAS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I RECEIVED LATER, BUT IT INITIALLY SAID IT WAS, IT WAS LIKE $9 A MONTH TO, UM, HAVE A BATTERY. AND I DON'T PARTICULARLY NEED A BATTERY, BUT I WAS CURIOUS. UM, BUT IT DID MAKE ME THINK LIKE THAT'S NOT THAT MUCH, BUT IT MIGHT BE MORE THAN LIKE, IF YOU'RE KIND OF ON THE EDGE, YOU KNOW, PAID PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK, YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT GONNA VOLUNTARILY INCREASE YOUR BILLS AT ALL IF YOU CAN HELP IT. UM, BUT A SMALL ENOUGH AMOUNT THAT IT WOULDN'T MAYBE BE UNREASONABLE TO HAVE THIS BE PART OF THE CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE, UH, PROGRAM. UM, SO I JUST WAS WONDERING IF ANYBODY HAS GIVEN ANY THOUGHT TO THAT OR IF IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE COULD EXPLORE HAVING A LOW INCOME PROGRAM WITHIN THE BASE PROGRAM. WELL, HOW ABOUT, UH, FOR THE MEDICALLY VULNERABLE WHEN YOU HAVE THE NEED TO KEEP POWER? YES. IT SEEMS LIKE, YEAH, THAT'S EVEN A HIGHER PRIORITY. SO, UM, WHAT I CAN SAY, YOU KNOW, I'M NOT PRIVY TO THE SPECIFICS OF THE, UH, AGREEMENTS BETWEEN BASE POWER AND THEIR CUSTOMERS, HOW THEY COME UP WITH WHAT, YOU KNOW, THEIR RATES ARE AND WHATNOT IS, IS NOT SOMETHING THAT WE ARE, YOU KNOW, PART OF. UM, AND SO, YOU KNOW, I I DON'T KNOW THAT THERE'S MUCH MORE IN CONCEPT. I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. UM, BUT RIGHT NOW OUR AGREEMENT WITH BASE IS AN OFFTAKER. UM, WELL REALLY THAT THE TOLLING AGREEMENT TO BE ABLE TO DISPATCH THE POWER, UM, HOW THEY, UM, ARRANGE TO GET THAT POWER ON THE SYSTEM TO BEGIN WITH IS AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THEM AND A CUSTOMER THAT WE DON'T STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF. YEAH. SORRY THAT I WAS NOT CLEAR. I WAS ASKING IF AUSTIN ENERGY MIGHT CONSIDER HAVING AN ASSOCIATED PROGRAM THAT OPERATES INDEPENDENT OF THE CONTRACT WITH BASE, BUT FOR THE MEDICALLY VULNERABLE AND LOW INCOME CUSTOMERS, YOU CAN GET BASICALLY THAT DELTA COVERED IF INDEED THAT INITIAL LIKE THING THAT I GOT IS, IS IN LINE WITH WHAT PEOPLE ARE PAYING. [01:05:01] I MEAN, I'D BE CURIOUS TO KNOW, BUT, UM, THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING ABOUT. LIKE A, IT WOULD BE A SEPARATE, THERE WOULD BE A, AN ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN AUSTIN ENERGY AND ITS CUSTOMERS NOT TO DO LIKE PARALLEL TO BASE. UH, YEAH, I, I UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION. THANK YOU. ONE THING I MIGHT CONSIDER IS AUSTIN ENERGY IS SENDING AN EMAIL TO PEOPLE WHO ARE ON THE LIST OF, YOU KNOW, MEDICALLY, UH, VULNERABLE PEOPLE AND TELLING THEM ABOUT THE BASE POWER PROGRAM. UNDERSTOOD. I MEAN, HOW DO YOU, HOW DOES AE HANDLE THE MEDICALLY, AM I USING THE RIGHT TERM? IS THERE A PROGRAM TO HELP PEOPLE WHO HAVE VENTILATORS AND THEY DESPERATELY NEED TO HAVE CONTI CONTINUOUS POWER BACKUP? SO WHAT DOES AUSTIN ENERGY DO FOR THOSE? YOU'RE SPEAKING ABOUT THE MEDICALLY VULNERABLE REGISTRY. OKAY. AT WHICH CUSTOMERS, UH, REGISTER WITH AUSTIN ENERGY AND GET ON OUR, UH, KNOWN LIST. AND THEN, UM, CARRIE, DO YOU WANNA COME ANSWER THIS QUESTION? DO YOU WANT ME TO TRY AND YOU CORRECT ME RICHARD, DON'T ANSWER. OKAY. CONCEPT, THEY'RE ASKING WHAT MDR, WHAT WE DO FOR MDR. GOOD EVENING COMMISSIONERS. RICHARD GENESEE, VICE PRESIDENT OF CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS. ON THE QUESTION, UH, THAT COMMISSIONER WHITE WAS ASKING, I JUST WANTED TO ADD A LITTLE BIT MORE INSIGHT IN TERMS OF WE ARE CONSIDERING A, UH, PROGRAM CURRENTLY, WHICH WOULD BE, UM, BASED ON A SIMILAR MODEL TO WHAT WE HAD UNDER SOLAR FOR ALL, WHERE WE WERE OFFERING, UH, FREE, AS YOU RECALL, FOR THAT FEDERAL, UH, GRANT BASED PROGRAM. WE'RE OFFERING FREE SOLAR AND BATTERIES, UH, TO, UH, CAP CUSTOMERS AND MVR CUSTOMERS. AND ESSENTIALLY WE'RE LOOKING AT SOMETHING LIKE THAT BASED ON THIRD PARTY, UH, OWNERSHIP. UH, BUT WE ARE, YOU KNOW, IN THE PROCESS OF ANALYSIS AND, UH, DATA GATHERING ON THAT. UH, SO, UH, TO THE POINT OF, UH, DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING IN THIS ARENA FOR MVR AND FOR SOLAR? UM, WE ARE, OR FOR CAP, WE, THAT IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE ANALYZING CURRENTLY. OKAY, GREAT. I'M GLAD TO HEAR THAT. UM, IF, IF WE CAN JUST GET UPDATES ON THAT, I WOULD CERTAINLY APPRECIATE IT. IT SEEMS LIKE WE'RE AT THIS PLACE WHERE THINGS ARE MOVING IN THIS ARENA. A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE GONNA BENEFIT FROM IT. IF WE CAN MAKE THAT REALLY SPREAD TO THE WHOLE COMMUNITY, CAN, UH, ACHIEVE MULTIPLE GOODS. THANKS. YEP. IN AGREEMENT, I CHAIR TITLE, DID THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION ABOUT THE MEDICALLY VULNERABLE REGISTRY? IT SEEMS LIKE WE'VE GOT PROGRESS BEING MADE. HEY, AND THE BASE POWER, YOU SAID IT'S A TOLLING, BUT IT'S, IT'S BASICALLY TOLLING VERSUS AN OFFTAKER. I MEAN, ARE YOU BASICALLY ONLY BUYING THE POWER WHEN THEY CAN EXPORT OR ARE YOUS USING IT AS A, A MINI VERSION OF A TOLLING AGREEMENT OF THE UTILITY SCALE? SO, UH, UTILITY SCALE BATTERIES, BUT JUST IN BITE-SIZED CHUNKS, WE, WE HAVE DISPATCH RIGHTS FOR THE FULL 40 MEGAWATTS AND WE CAN CHOOSE WHEN WE WANT TO CHARGE OR DISCHARGE IT. I WAS, I MISSPOKE WHEN I SAID OFF TAKE OFF, TAKE IS MORE APPROPRIATE IF YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT LIKE A SOLAR OR A WIND FARM THAT IS PRODUCING AND THEN YOU TAKE IT THE, YOU KNOW, YOU TAKE THE OFF TAKE WHENEVER IT'S BEING PRODUCED. WE ARE CHOOSING WHEN IT'S CHARGING AND DISCHARGING. OKAY. SO THIS IS AN AGGREGATED RESOURCE UP TO 40 MEGAWATTS? CORRECT. ARE YOU SAYING IT'S TWO HOURS OR IS THERE ONE AND A HALF HOUR? ONE AND A HALF HOUR. OKAY. OKAY. THANKS. ALL RIGHT. SO CHAIR TUTTLE, THAT CONCLUDES MY SEMI-ANNUAL UPDATE FOR GEN PLAN IMPLEMENTATION QUESTIONS. AL DO YOU HAVE YOUR HAND UP? I HAD A COUPLE QUESTIONS THAT I, I DIDN'T ASK WHILE YOU'RE GOING THROUGH LISA, BUT I, I'D APPRECIATE ON PAGE SEVEN, UH, TALKING ABOUT A REVIEW OF THE THERMAL STORAGE AND, UH, JUST HOPING THAT YOU'LL BE ABLE TO GIVE US AN UPDATE ON THAT TOO. IT, IT'S, UH, IT SEEMS AN IMPORTANT THING THAT JUST DOESN'T GET A LOT OF UNDERSTANDING AND I, I'D LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT AFTER YOU ASSESS ITS FUTURE AND, AND WHAT YOU THINK, UH, CAN BE DONE TO, TO GROW IT OR, OR WHAT Y'ALL DECIDE TO DO, BUT, UH, A REPORT WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED. UNDERSTOOD. VICE CHAIR BRADEN. OUR WORK, AS YOU KNOW, HAS, UH, DELAYED THERE BECAUSE WE'VE TURNED OUR ATTENTION TO FOCUS ON SOME OF THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION, BUT WE'RE PICKING THAT BACK UP. MM-HMM . OKAY. UH, THE OTHER THING IS ON PAGE NINE, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THE IMPROVEMENT OF CUSTOMER [01:10:01] INTERCONNECTION EXPERIENCE ON SOLAR, WHICH IS NEAR AND DEAR TO MY HEART. UH, WE'LL BE VOTING LATER ON A WORKING GROUP AND TRYING TO FORM A WORKING GROUP WITH THE RMC ON THIS, AND I KNOW YOU'RE DOING A LOT OF WORK IN THAT AREA. I, I, MAYBE, MAYBE A WHOLE BUNCH OF WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK FOR HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE, BUT, UH, WILL YOU BE ABLE TO, UH, INTERFACE WITH US AND WORK WITH US ON THE WORKING GROUP, UH, TO GIVE US MORE DETAIL ON WHAT'S BEING DONE TO IMPROVE THE CUSTOMER INTERCONNECTION EXPERIENCE? WELL, I WILL JUST SAY A LOT OF CREDIT GOES TO RICHARD GENESEE AND HIS TEAM WORKING ACROSS WORK GROUPS AT AUSTIN ENERGY TO HELP STREAMLINE THIS PROCESS. DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANNA SAY? SORRY, I'M SORRY. UH, GOOD EVENING. RICHARD GENESEE AGAIN. YEAH, I, I WILL BE SPEAKING TO THIS, UH, AT TOMORROW'S RMC I'LL BE PRESENTING. AND YES, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN DONE ALREADY TO, UM, IMPROVE AND STREAMLINE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE RELATED TO SOLAR AND BATTERIES INTERCONNECTION. UM, AND SO, UH, YOU'LL, YOU'LL RECEIVE THAT PRESENTATION FROM ME TOMORROW NIGHT AT THE RMCI. I LOOK FORWARD TO IT. AND I, I HOPE THERE'S, I LOOKED AT THE SLIDE DECK AND, AND IT SAYS A LOT OF GOOD THINGS. I'M HOPING THERE'S A LOT MORE DETAIL. AND AS THE WORKING GROUP GETS FORMED, WE'LL HAVE A LOT MORE DETAILED QUESTIONS, I'M SURE. BUT APPRECIATE YOUR, YOUR WORKING WITH US ON THAT. OF COURSE. OKAY. ANY MORE QUESTIONS, CHRIS? UH, LISA, THANKS FOR THIS PRESENTATION. I'M AMAZED BY HOW QUICKLY AUSTIN ENERGY IS PROGRESSING ON THESE GOALS HERE. AND, UH, ENERGY EFFICIENCY CAUGHT MY ATTENTION, UM, ALMOST A, A GIGAWATT OF OFFSET LOAD WITH ENERGY EFFICIENCY, UM, INVESTMENTS AND, UH, A HUNDRED MEGAWATTS, UM, ADDED TO, TO BE ADDED IN THE NEXT YEAR. THAT'S REALLY FAST COMPARED TO ANY KIND OF, UM, UTILITY SCALE GENERATION. CAN YOU TELL US WHAT ARE THE PROJECTS THAT ARE, ARE, ARE GIVING THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, OFFSET LOAD AND, AND HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO, UH, TO PUT IT ON SO QUICKLY? SO, UM, JUST TO BE FAIR AND CLEAR, THESE NUMBERS ARE AGGREGATE NUMBERS. THE WAY THIS GOAL IS SET UP IS IT'S AGGREGATE SAVINGS FROM THE, ESSENTIALLY THE INCEPTION OF, OF OUR ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAM. SO IT'S TAKEN, YOU KNOW, THIS IS NOT SINCE THE ADOPTION OF THE 2035 PLAN, BUT THERE'S A LOT OF PROGRAMS, UM, IN TERMS OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY RELATED TO, UH, YOU KNOW, INSULATION, LIGHTING, UM, UH, REBATES RELATED TO, UM, AIR CONDITIONING AND, AND, AND MANY OTHER, UM, THIS IS ONE OF OUR MOST ROBUST PROGRAMS. AND SO I, I, MYSELF WAS LOOKING AT THE SAME MAN. THAT'S ALMOST A GIGAWATT, RIGHT? UM, AND, UH, I KNOW THAT THE TEAM HAS OFTEN SAID THAT A LOT OF THE LOW HANGING FRUITS, ESPECIALLY WITH LIGHTING, UM, HAS, IS GONE. AND SO THIS, THIS LAST 109 MEGAWATTS IS GOING TO BE QUITE TOUGH TO GET. UM, BUT THEY ARE, ARE WORKING VERY HARD AT IT. UM, AND, AND YEAH, IT'S JUST YEARS OF, OF, UM, EFFORTS AND, AND A WILLING COMMUNITY TO WORK WITH YOU. THANK YOU. OTHER QUESTIONS? UH, SO I HAVE ONE MORE THEN. UM, SO THE TERM VPP WAS BANTERED AROUND BEFORE, AND IS THAT REALLY THE LOCAL BATTERY PROGRAM DEMAND BATTERY DEMAND RESPONSE PROGRAM? I MEAN, A VIRTUAL POWER, RIGHT? POWER PLANT CONCEPT IS ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN AGGREGATE TOGETHER AND CONTROL IN AN ORGANIZED WAY. AND SO WHEN WE THINK ABOUT OUR DEMAND RESPONSE ENCOMPASSING NOT ONLY THERMOSTATS, BUT ALSO BATTERIES AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING, IT, IT'S ALL OF THOSE THINGS TOGETHER. WE, UM, ESSENTIALLY PUSH A VIRTUAL BUTTON AND THEN GET ALL OF THOSE PROGRAMS TO RESPOND. THERE'S MORE, OF COURSE, COMPLEXITY TO IT, BUT IN CONCEPT, YES. OKAY. SO IT'S THE OVERARCHING CONCEPT AND YOU HAVE INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS OF IT. THAT'S RIGHT. THAT, THAT ARE ALL DERS THAT ROLL INTO THAT. OKAY. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. NEXT WE [10. Staff Briefing on the FY 2026/27 Austin Energy Budget by John Davis, Director of Finance. ] HAVE STAFF BRIEFING ON THE AUSTIN ENERGY BUDGET. OKAY. GOOD EVENING COMMISSIONERS. JOHN DAVIS, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE FOR FROST ENERGY. I DON'T KNOW HOW WE ALWAYS ENDED UP LAST ON THE PRESENTATION, SO, BUT I DECIDED TO GO AHEAD AND GIVE YOUR MONEY'S WORTH. I'VE GOT ABOUT AN HOUR PREPARED OF SLIDES, UH, THAT WE CAN GO THROUGH, SO , UM, BUT I APPRECIATE YOU BEING HERE. UM, I'D LIKE TO PRESENT THE AUSTIN ENERGY 2027 BUDGET, WHICH IS BASICALLY A SUMMARY TONIGHT OF WHAT WAS PRESENTED BY THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE LAST THURSDAY. UH, THE ONLINE VERSION OF THE PROPOSED BUDGET. YOU CAN FIND OUT THERE ON AUSTIN TEXAS.GOV/BUDGET [01:15:02] IF YOU WANNA SEE MORE DETAILS ABOUT WHAT I'M PRESENTING HERE TONIGHT. NEXT. AND BEFORE I START, WE'VE GOTTA GIVE THE DISCLAIMER, OBVIOUSLY THERE'S A LOT OF THINGS THAT COULD HAPPEN NEXT YEAR. THERE'S A LOT OF VARIABLES OUTSIDE OF OUR CONTROL, INCLUDING THE ENERGY MARKETS AND WEATHER. AND SO WITH THAT IN MIND, I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE EVERYBODY REALIZES THAT THE ACTUAL RESULTS BY THE TIME WE GET TO END OF NEXT YEAR ARE GONNA VARY FROM WHAT I'M PRESENTING HERE TONIGHT. NEXT, I'M GONNA PROVIDE AN OVERVIEW AND HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BUDGET. WE'RE GONNA START OFF WITH REVENUES, WE'RE GONNA DISCUSS EXPENSES, WE'RE GONNA DISCUSS CAPITAL PROJECTS. AND FINALLY, PERSONNEL. WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT FINANCIAL HEALTH. UH, WE'RE GONNA TAKE A LOOK AT THE KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS THAT RESULT FROM THIS BUDGET. AND THEN LASTLY, WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT THE CUSTOMER IMPACT. NEXT, NEXT, THERE WE GO. THANK YOU. UM, ALL RIGHT. THIS IS A PIE CHART THAT BASICALLY ILLUSTRATES, UH, THE VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF OUR REVENUES, OUR REVENUES THAT WERE PROJECTED FOR 2027 OR ABOUT $110 MILLION HIGHER THAN WHAT THEY WERE FOR FISCAL YEAR 26. WE'VE GOT A SUMMARY OF THOSE DIFFERENCES OVER HERE. ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE, THE 110 MILLION IS COMPRISED OF THE INCREASE IN BASE RATES, WHICH IS ABOUT $40 MILLION RELATED TO THE PLANNED 5% BASE RATE INCREASE, AND AN ADDITIONAL 21 MILLION RELATED TO LOAD GROWTH AND CUSTOMER GROWTH. THEN WE'RE ANTICIPATING AN INCREASE IN POWER SUPPLY REVENUES OF 8.4 MILLION. UH, THAT IS ONE OF THE PASS THROUGHS. SO WE ALSO WILL EXPECT AN INCREASE IN POWER SUPPLY EXPENSE. NEXT, WE HAVE AN INCREASE IN REGULATORY REVENUES, PRIMARILY DUE TO OUR NEED TO RECOUP THE COST OF ALL THE INVESTMENTS THAT ARE BEING MADE IN, IN, IN ERCOT FOR TRANSMISSION. WE'RE ALSO GONNA SEE AN INCREASE IN OUR OWN TRANSMISSION REVENUE FOR OUR ASSETS THAT AUSTIN ENERGY OWNS. AS A RESULT OF THAT. UM, THEN WE'RE GONNA FINALLY SEE AN INCREASE IN OTHER REVENUES, UH, DRIVEN, PRIMARILY DUE TO THE PROTECTION TAX PROTECTION TAX CREDIT, UH, RELATED TO THE NUCLEAR OPERATIONS. SO THERE'S A PTC ON OLD NUCLEAR, NOT JUST NUCLEAR. YES. ON EXISTING. THAT'S RIGHT. ON EXISTING $23 A MEGAWATT HOUR OR WHAT? IT VARIES. THERE'S A FLOOR, UM, RELATED TO IT. AND SO THE PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT HELPS US SECURE THAT FLOOR BASED UPON WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MARKET. SO THIS IS AN ESTIMATE. IT MAY NOT BE THIS IN THE END. WE ALSO RECEIVED ONE FOR 2024. SINCE WE LAST SPOKE DURING THE FORECAST PRESENTATION, WE RECEIVED A PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT FOR OUR 2024 NUCLEAR OPERATIONS. I BELIEVE IT'S EXPECTED TO END IN 2032 AT THIS POINT. SO WE FACTORED THAT INTO OUR FIVE YEAR BUDGET PLAN. NEXT SLIDE. THOSE REVENUE SOURCES ARE MEANT TO COVER THE EXPENSES. SO WE HAD ABOUT $2 BILLION IN REVENUES THAT WE'RE ANTICIPATING THE 26TH BUDGET. LIKEWISE, WE'RE ANTICIPATING ABOUT $2 BILLION IN EXPENSES. MOST OF THE CATEGORIES OF THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF ALL THE EXPENSES ARE PASS THROUGHS. HOWEVER, I WOULD LIKE TO CALL YOUR ATTENTION TO THE RIGHT HAND SIDE, WHICH IS O AND M, AND WE'VE CARVED OUT THAT $619 MILLION OUT OF THE 209, SORRY, OUT OF THE 2 BILLION, SO THAT WE CAN TALK ABOUT THE O AND M EXPENSES IN A LITTLE BIT MORE DETAIL. SORRY, GO BACK TO THAT SLIDE. SORRY. UM, YOU CAN SEE OVER HERE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE IN THE SMALL PIE CHART, $619 MILLION OF O AND M EXPENSE COMPRISES ABOUT 30% OF OUR TOTAL, 2 BILLION IN EXPENSES. OF THAT 619,000,359 MILLION RELATES TO PERSONNEL AND BENEFITS COSTS. THEN WE HAVE 237 MILLION, WHICH RELATES TO CONTRACTUALS. AND THOSE CONTRACTUALS ARE PRIMARILY COMPRISED OF IT RELATED LICENSES, LEASES FOR LARGE EQUIPMENT LIKE THE ALL TECH BUCKET TRUCKS THAT WE USE, UH, VEGETATION MANAGEMENT COSTS, AND OTHER CONTRACTUALS. BUT MOST OF THAT, 50% OF THAT IS MADE UP OF VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, IT RELATED EXPENSES AND OTHER LICENSES. THEN WE HAVE, UH, THE COMMODITIES COSTS OF 22.4 MILLION, WHICH IS PRIMARILY RELATED TO SMALL TOOLS, UH, WHICH OUR CREWS USE, UH, AS WELL AS MATERIALS, EXPENSES THAT ARE O AND M RELATED AS OPPOSED TO CIP. AND WE CARVE THAT OUT BECAUSE OUT OF ALL THE EXPENSES THAT WE SEE HERE, THE 2 BILLION, THAT 619 MILLION IS WHAT WE FOCUS ON BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WE HAVE A LITTLE BIT MORE CONTROL OVER RELATIVE TO THE PASS THROUGHS. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. SORRY, I HAD A COUPLE, I HAD TWO QUICK QUESTIONS ON THAT. OKAY, SIR. UH, CAN YOU GO BACK ONE, SORRY, DAVID? YEAH. UM, CAN YOU JUST REMIND US ON GENERAL FUND TRANSFER, IS THAT A A PERCENT OF REVENUES OR IS, OR DOES CITY COUNCIL ESTABLISH A SPECIFIC NUMBER THAT GOES TO GOOD QUESTION GT. UM, SO THE GENERAL FUND TRANSFER IS ABOUT A $9 MILLION INCREASE OVER WHAT IT WAS LAST YEAR, AND THAT'S PRIMARILY DRIVEN BY REVENUES [01:20:01] AS REVENUES RISE. GENERAL FUNDS TRANSFER IS A FUNCTION OF THE THREE YEAR AVERAGE, UH, THREE YEAR HISTORIC AVERAGE, THREE YEAR PAST AVERAGE OF, UH, REVENUES. SO AS THE, UM, REVENUES CONTINUE TO CLIMB, WE PAY 12% OF THOSE REVENUES MINUS A FEW EXCLUSIONS. UM, RELATED TO PASS THROUGHS, WE PAY 12% OF THAT, UM, BACK TO THE CITY. AND THAT'S, UM, STEEPED IN THE CITY POLICY, THE FINANCIAL POLICIES THAT ARE ALSO IN THAT DETAILED BUDGET BOOK. SO. GOT IT. OKAY. AND THEN THE, THE JOINT PROJECTS 105 MILLION, SO THAT'S BOTH THE NUKE PLANT AND THE COAL PLANT. AND IS THAT, IS THAT A PRETTY STEADY COST YEAR ON YEAR, OR DOES IT CHANGE A LOT? WE, UH, WE ARE GONNA GO OVER THAT IN THE COST DRIVERS. WE ACTUALLY SEE A LITTLE BIT OF A DECREASE IN THE JOINT PROJECTS, AND YOU'RE RIGHT, OKAY. UH, THAT IS A COMBINATION OF, UM, UH, SDP AND FPP PROJECTS. UM, BUT WE DO SEE A DECREASE IN THAT THIS YEAR, WHICH I'LL TALK ABOUT IN A SECOND. UM, SO, OKAY, SO THE COST DRIVERS HERE, UM, INCREASE IN EMPLOYEE SALARY AND BENEFIT COSTS, INCLUDING COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENTS OF 19.1 MILLION. I'D LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT THAT CAME UP DURING THE FORECAST PRESENTATION BECAUSE AT THAT TIME WE DID NOT HAVE ANY COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENTS INCLUDE THE DINNER, OUR FORECAST AS DIRECTED BY CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE. UM, THANKS TO CYRUS'S QUESTION, I THINK, UH, DURING THE FORECAST PRESENTATION, THE CITY MANAGER, UM, HAS ASKED US TO INCLUDE A COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT, UH, AS PART OF THE PLAN FOR 2027. COST INCREASES ALSO INCLUDE, UH, TRANSMISSION EXPENSE INCREASE DUE TO RISING COST IN ERCOT THAT WE TALKED ABOUT AS MORE INVESTMENTS GET MADE, UM, IN ERCOT THAN OUR PORTION OF THE ERCOT EXPENSE IS ALSO INCREASING. UM, INCREASE TO POLE INSPECTIONS, THE REMEDIATION COST OF 3.5 MILLION, THAT, UH, IS AN AMOUNT THAT WAS ADDED THIS YEAR TO MAKE SURE THAT WE, UM, INCREASE OUR PLANS RELATED TO POLE INSPECTIONS AND REPLACEMENT. ACCORDING TO THE RESILIENCY PLAN, UM, WE DO ANTICIPATE, UH, INCREASE IN CALL CENTER CONTRACT COSTS AS A RESULT OF NEW LIVING WAGE REQUIREMENTS AND NEW CONTRACT THAT WE'RE NEGOTIATING. UM, WE ALSO ANTICIPATE OR PLAN FOR INCREASED CONT UH, CUSTOMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS, CONSERVATION REBATES AND ENERGY EFFICIENT SER ENERGY EFFICIENCY SERVICE PROGRAMS, AS WELL AS ADDITIONAL ELECTRIC VEHICLE, UH, INCENTIVE PROGRAMS OF 1.2 MILLION. IN ADDITION TO TALKING ABOUT THE INCREASES, WE HAVE A COUPLE OF DECREASES. ONE OF THOSE, WHICH CYRUS WE JUST TALKED ABOUT. WE ARE EXPECTING A DECREASE IN POWER PRODUCTION OPERATING COSTS OF 12.3 MILLION. UH, A GOOD BIT OF THAT RELATES TO THE FACT THAT WE'RE EXPECTING FEWER PLANNED OUTAGES, UH, WITH FEP AND STP, WE'RE ALSO, UH, PLANNING ON A DECREASE IN CALL CENTER COSTS DUE TO A PILOT PROGRAM WHERE WE PLAN TO ALIGN, UH, THE CALL CENTER UTILITY CONTACT CENTER AND 3 1 1 CONTACT CENTER HOURS OF OPERATION TO BE MORE IN LINE WITH INDUSTRY STANDARDS. SO WE'RE GONNA ADJUST THOSE AND SEE HOW UH, PERFORMANCE OCCURS, UH, OUR ABANDONED CALL RATE, AND, UH, OUR AVERAGE SPEED OF ANSWER, THOSE TYPES OF THINGS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE MAINTAINING, UM, QUALITY OF OPERATIONS. SO WE EXPECT AN ADDITIONAL $1.3 MILLION DECREASE THAT WE PLAN FOR IN OPERATING COSTS OF THOSE CONTACT CENTERS, AND THAT'S A PILOT PROGRAM FOR THE NEXT YEAR. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. OH, HOLD ON. BUT YOU HAVE A QUESTION. I'M SORRY. THANK YOU. UM, I WAS JUST WONDERING, CAN YOU SHARE WHAT THE MAJOR DRIVERS OF THAT DEBT SERVICE INCREASE ARE? BAD DEBT. I DIDN'T HEAR WHAT SHE SAID. BAD DEBT. IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF THAT DEBT SERVICE. DEBT. OH, DEBT SERVICE. I'M SORRY, YES. ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE, YES. SO, UM, ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE, YOU DO SEE THAT WE HAVE AN INCREASE IN DEBT SERVICE. AS CAPITAL PROJECT INVESTMENT CONTINUES TO INCREASE, WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO SEE AN INCREASE IN DEBT SERVICE, AND WE'RE GONNA GO OVER THAT AT THE 80,000 FOOT LEVEL HERE IN A MINUTE. BUT LET'S GO OVER THOSE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE. UH, WE DO EXPECT TO SEE A DECREASE IN CIP CASH TRANSFERS AS WE CONTINUE TO USE CASH TO FUND DEBT SERVICE. UM, WE EXPECT AN INCREASE IN DEBT SERVICE COSTS THAT'S RELATED TO THAT. UH, ALSO AN ANTICIPATED INCREASE IN THE GENERAL FUND TRANSFER THAT WE SPOKE ABOUT A MINUTE AGO, THAT'S DRIVEN BY THE INCREASE IN REVENUES. UH, WE ARE PLANNING ON A CONTINGENCY RESERVE TRANSFER OF 8 MILLION, UH, FOR 2027. AND THEN WE DO ANTICIPATE INCREASE IN TRANSFERS FOR CITY SERVICES AS WE CONTINUE TO CENTRALIZE, UM, IT AND SOME OF THOSE OTHER FUNCTIONS AND SHIFT SOME OF THE SERVICES OVER TO THE CITY. WE'LL ALSO SEE AN INCREASE IN, UH, TRANSFERS TO THE CITY FOR THOSE SERVICES, AND WE'LL ALSO SEE A CORRESPONDING DECREASE IN OUR COSTS AS FTES MOVE OVER TO THE CITY. I DON'T SEE ANY HANDS UP, SO ARE ANY HANDS UP? OKAY. THANK YOU. OKAY, MOVING ON TO CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM [01:25:02] IN THE AGGREGATE, OUR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM OVER THE FIVE YEARS IS ANTICIPATED TO BE 3.2 MILLION, 2 BILLION. UM, YOU COULD SEE THE MAJOR CATEGORIES THAT WE'VE BROKEN OUT HERE. ELECTRIC SYSTEMS SUB TOTAL REPRESENTS THE SUBCATEGORIES ABOVE OF DISTRIBUTION, CAPITAL INVESTMENTS, SUBSTATIONS, AND TRANSMISSION. AND THEN AT THE BOTTOM HALF, YOU'VE GOT POWER PRODUCTION DISTRICT COOLING IN GENERAL. UM, AND JUST, UH, POINT OUT THE ASTERISK THERE, DISTRICT COOLING EXPENDITURES ARE NOT A COMPONENT OF ELECTRIC RETAIL RATES. UH, WE'LL GO OVER SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CIP UH, SPEND PLAN NEXT. UM, ONE OF THE POINT THAT I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE, UM, IS THAT, UH, THE TOTAL FIVE YEAR CIP SPEND PLAN IS JUST OVER 3.2 BILLION, AND THE AGGREGATE IS FINANCED WITH ABOUT 27% CASH AND 73% DEBT. I'LL GO OVER THE HIGHLIGHTS NEXT, , JUST A GENERAL COMMENT ABOUT THE FIRST BULLET HERE. UM, THAT WE DO CONTINUE TO SEE OUR EXPENDITURES IMPACTED BY HIGHER MATERIALS AND LABOR COSTS AND CONTINUED GROWTH, UM, THAT IS PERTAINING TO BOTH OPERATING AND MAINTENANCE EXPENSE AS WELL AS CIP. UM, THEN WE GO THROUGH THE LIST OF SOME OF THE PROJECTS THAT WE'RE WORKING ON THAT WE'D LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT FOR 2027. WE HAVE SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENTS THAT WE'RE MAKING IN THE DUCT BANKS, UH, DISTRIBUTION, RELIABILITY, RELIABILITY INVESTMENTS. THAT IS THE INCREMENTAL AMOUNT THAT WE ANTICIPATE FOR FISCAL YEAR 27. UH, THERE IS ALSO RESILIENCY AND RELIABILITY EXPENDITURES ON THE OM SIDE, PRIMARILY RELATED TO VEGETATION MANAGEMENT. SO THIS BULLET HERE ONLY PERTAINS TO THE CIP PORTION OF THE RESILIENCY PLAN FOR 27. UM, AND I SEE A HANDOUT. OKAY. COMMISSIONER BRADEN. OH, I WAS, I WAS ASKING A, A QUESTION ON THE LAST PAGE. UH, WHICH QUESTIONING WHETHER THE BIG JUMPS IN POWER PRODUCTION ARE ALL IN 27, 28, AND 29 30 ARE ALL RELATED TO THE PEAKERS, OR ARE THERE ANY OTHER THINGS CONTRIBUTING IN THERE? THERE IS. IT'S A NET NUMBER. UH, THE ORIGINAL NUMBER THAT WE WENT OVER AS PART OF THE FORECAST WAS PUT TOGETHER BACK IN FEBRUARY. SO A LOT HAS CHANGED SINCE THEN. ONE ITEM THAT YOU POINTED OUT WAS RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN. SO THAT IS PART OF THE REASON, BUT THERE ARE A NUMBER OF FACTORS THAT ARE IMPACTING, UH, THE CIP BUDGET IN ADDITION TO JUST THAT. SO, BUT RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN IS FACTORED IN TO THIS BUDGET THAT WE'VE GOT FOR THE FIVE YEARS. WHAT, WHAT LARGE ITEMS ARE THERE IN, IN, IN ADDITION TO THE PEAKERS IN POWER PRODUCTION? IT'S A, IT'S A NET NUMBER. UM, SO I, I KNOW THAT WE'D LIKE TO TALK MORE ABOUT DETAILS OF THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN, BUT I'M REALLY NOT AT LIBERTY TO TALK ABOUT THAT BECAUSE OF COMPETITIVE MATTERS, BUT THERE ARE OTHER PROJECTS THAT ARE INCLUDED IN THERE. SO , YEAH, I GUESS I'M STILL, CAN WE GO BACK TO THAT SLIDE? I, I'M NOT SURE WHY WE'RE RE REFERRING TO THE PEAKERS AS RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN. LIKE THAT'S KIND OF THROWING ME, I'LL JUST SAY THAT. UM, THE PLAN ENCOMPASSES SO MANY THINGS. I AGREE. UM, BUT IN TERMS OF THE POWER PRODUCTION, UH, STUDYING ASIDE THE PEAKERS, WHAT ARE THE OTHER KIND OF PROJECTS THAT FALL INTO THAT 55.6 MILLION? UM, THERE IS NOT A LOT OF DE DETAIL THAT WE CAN PROVIDE IN POWER PRODUCTION. IN FACT, IF YOU LOOK, YOU, YOU COULD SEE A LITTLE BIT MORE DETAIL IN THE ONLINE VERSION OF THE BUDGET. IF YOU GET A CHANCE TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE LINK THAT'S OUT THERE ON THE CITY OF AUSTIN BUDGET PAGE. BUT THERE'S NOT A LOT OF INFORMATION THAT WE SHARE ABOUT POWER PRODUCTION JUST DUE TO COMPETITIVE MATTERS. YOU DON'T EVEN SHARE WHAT TYPES OF RESOURCES. I MEAN, I THOUGHT THAT WAS PART OF YOUR REPORTING ROUTINELY. I'M JUST ASKING WHAT TYPES OF RESOURCES. NO DETAILS. NO. COOL. UM, OKAY. SO IN THE MIDDLE SECTION YOU COULD SEE SOME MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE TRANSMISSION AND SUBSTATION PROJECTS THAT WE HAVE PLANNED. UM, AND THEN ON THE FAR RIGHT, UH, DISTRICT COOLING, UH, THERE'S A REPLACEMENT PROJECT GOING ON AT DCP ONE. UM, AND IN POWER PRODUCTION, UH, YOU'VE GOT THE ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS THAT WE'VE GOT PLANNED AT DECKER CREEK POWER STATION. SO, UM, YOU WILL SEE MORE DETAIL ON SOME OF THESE, UH, AS PART OF THE DETAILED BUDGET THAT'S ONLINE, UH, THERE'S NOT A WHOLE LOT OUT THERE RELATED TO POWER PRODUCTION THOUGH, JUST DUE TO COMPETITIVE REASONS. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. OKAY. AS PART OF THE 27 BUDGET, UH, WE'RE ALSO ANTICIPATING ADDING 27 POSITIONS. UH, YOU CAN SEE THAT THE NET COST OF ADDING THOSE POSITIONS IS JUST OVER $600,000. WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO IDENTIFY SAVINGS AS A RESULT OF CONVERTING THESE FULL, THESE, UH, CONTRACT POSITIONS INTO FULL-TIME POSITIONS. UM, AND YOU CAN SEE THE DETAIL THERE BY THE VARIOUS [01:30:01] DEPARTMENTS THAT WE'RE ANTICIPATING THOSE POSITIONS TO BE STAFFED IN. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. WE'LL TALK ABOUT FINANCIAL HEALTH NEXT. UM, SO WE'VE TALKED ABOUT REVENUES, WE'VE TALKED ABOUT EXPENSES. WE'VE TALKED ABOUT CIP, UH, PLANS. THE FUND SUMMARY PULLS IT TOGETHER AT A PRETTY HIGH LEVEL. UM, YOU COULD SEE, UH, IF YOU LOOK AT THE THIRD LINE FROM THE BOTTOM, OUR WORKING CAPITAL, UH, SUMMARY THAT WE ANTICIPATED ORIGINALLY FOR FISCAL YEAR 26 WAS A 43 AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS DEFICIT. UH, WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO APPROVE UPON THAT PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF THE NUCLEAR PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT. THERE WAS A NUMBER OF THINGS THAT OCCURRED, BUT PROBABLY THE LARGEST ONE WAS THE BENEFIT WE RECEIVED FROM THE NUCLEAR PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT FROM FISCAL YEAR 24 PERFORMANCE THAT ALLOWED US TO, UM, COME UP WITH A REVISED, UH, CURRENT YEAR ESTIMATE OF A $19.4 MILLION DEFICIT. SO, STILL A DEFICIT, BUT WE'VE CUT IT IN HALF. AND THEN, AS FAR AS THE BUDGET'S CONCERNED, UH, YOU CAN SEE ON THAT SAME ROW WORKING CAPITAL EXCESS DEFICIENCY FOR 2027, WE'RE PROJECTING A $2.2 MILLION, UH, BUDGET EXCESS OR WORKING CAPITAL EXCESS, WHICH IS POSITIVE THAT REMAINS FAIRLY FLAT OVER THE FULL FIVE YEARS. HOWEVER, I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT AS PART OF THIS FIVE YEAR BUDGET LOOK, WE ARE ABLE TO START, UH, CONTRIBUTING TO THE RESERVES. YOU'LL SEE THE AE RESERVE TRANSFER LINE BEGINS TO GROW STARTING IN AT 2029, AT 21 MILLION, AND GROWS UP TO 85 MILLION BY THE TIME WE GET TO THE FORECAST PERIOD. SO ALTHOUGH WE'RE USING CASH TO HELP FUND OUR INCREASED DEBT LEVELS, UM, WE ARE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS THE END OF THE FIVE YEAR PLAN, UH, TOWARDS THE RESERVES. AND A LOT OF THIS IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE FACT THAT WE CONTINUE TO BE, UH, MARCHING FORWARD WITH THE 5% BASE RATE INCREASE. UH, AND THAT GRADUAL INCREASE OVER TIME IS STARTING TO, TO ALLOW US TO REPLENISH THOSE RESERVES AND IMPROVE THE FINANCIAL HEALTH OF THE UTILITY, WHICH WE'LL ALSO SEE ON THE KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS. NEXT, ON THE KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR SLIDE, UM, UH, WE DO SEE DETERIORATION AND DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE RATIO AS WELL AS THE DEBT TO CAPITAL RATIO AS WE CONTINUE TO FUND MORE OF OUR CAPITAL WITH DEBT. UH, HOWEVER, OPERATING MARGIN AND DAY'S CASH ON HAND SHOW IMPROVEMENTS DUE TO THAT MULTI-YEAR PLAN, THAT THE 5% BASE RATE INCREASES, SO THAT YOU CAN SEE DAY'S CASH ON ON HAND, UM, STARTS OFF AT A 187 AND WE SEE SOME DETERIORATION, WHICH BOTTOMS OUT IN 2029. AND THEN WE START TO RESURRECT OURSELVES. I START TO SEE SOME INCREASE AS WE START TO GET INTO THE OUTER YEARS. DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE ALSO SHOWS SOME DETERIORATION, ESPECIALLY IN 28 AND 29, BUT THEN BEGINS TO FLATTEN OUT AGAIN AND INCREASE IN THE LATER YEARS. UM, AND THE GFT, WHICH WAS ASKED ABOUT EARLIER, YOU COULD SEE THE SUMMARY OF THAT OVER THAT TIME PERIOD. SO GFT HAS ANTICIPATED TO RISE TO 174 MILLION BY THE TIME WE GET TO 2031. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. NEXT SLIDE. ALL RIGHT. WE'LL TALK ABOUT THE PEER COMPARISON. SO, I'M SORRY, TYPICAL RATE THERE. I THINK WE HAVE A QUESTION. NO, SORRY, ROW. UH, I THINK IT'S CESAR. OH, CESAR, SORRY. CAN YOU SEE, CAN YOU SPEAK UP PLEASE? UH, YES. UH, COULD YOU SPEAK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE DEBT TO CAPITAL RATIO AND JUST DETERIORATION O OVER THAT PERIOD, UH, AND WHAT EFFORTS WILL BE MADE TO SORT OF CORRAL THAT BACK? SURE. THANKS ISAR FOR THE QUESTION. SO, DEBT TO CAPITAL RATIO IS ALL RELATED TO DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE. SO THE DEBT TO CAPITAL RATIO IS CONTINUING TO DETERIORATE, ESPECIALLY TOWARDS THE BEGINNING OF THIS FIVE YEAR PLAN AS WE HAVE TO FUND MORE OF OUR CIP, UM, WITH DEBT AS OPPOSED TO CASH. UH, OUR PLAN RIGHT NOW TO STICK WITH THE 5% BASE RATE INCREASES IS SHOWING THAT OVER TIME WE'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO IMPROVE UPON THAT. UM, AND THIS IS STILL A PRETTY SHORT TERM LOOK, UH, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THE CAPITAL PROJECTS ARE FINANCED OVER 30 YEARS, SO WE DO ANTICIPATE IMPROVEMENT IN THIS AND WE SEE IMPROVEMENT AT THE END OF THE FIVE YEAR LOOK, BUT WE START TO SEE THAT CONTINUING TO PICK UP INTO, INTO THE OUTER YEARS. SO DEBT TO CAPITAL IS MERELY A FUNCTION OF JUST THE NEED TO FUND MORE OF OUR CAPITAL WITH, UM, UH, WITH DEBT. CORRECT. OKAY. THANK YOU. YOU GOT, THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION. OKAY. TYPICAL RATE PAYER. SO, UM, WE'RE COMPARING 2026 BUDGET, UH, TO 2027 PROPOSED BUDGET IN THE VERY LAST COLUMN. AND YOU COULD SEE THERE THAT THE 5% BASE RATE INCREASE IS OFFSET SOMEWHAT BY THE PASS THROUGH, SUCH THAT [01:35:01] THE TOTAL MONTHLY BILL INCREASE THAT WE'RE ANTICIPATING FOR 2027 IS $3 AND 66 CENTS FOR YOUR TYPICAL RATE PAYER. THAT OUR TYPICAL CUSTOMER THAT'S CONSUMING 860 KILOWATTS, THE CAP CUSTOMER DISCOUNT, UH, DISCOUNTED BILL IS SLIGHTLY HIGHER AT 360 8, PRIMARILY BECAUSE THE CAP CUSTOMERS DON'T PAY FOR THE CUSTOMER CHARGE AND THEY DON'T PAY FOR THE, UH, THE CAP RATE. UM, SO AS A RESULT OF THAT, ANY ADJUSTMENTS OR FLUCTUATIONS THAT WE SEE IN THE CUSTOMER CHARGE OR THE CAP RATE AREN'T PASSED ONTO THE CAP CUSTOMERS 'CAUSE THEY DON'T PAY IT. SO JUST A SLIGHT DIFFERENCE THERE, PRIMARILY DUE TO THAT REASON. OKAY. NEXT SLIDE. THANKS. OKAY. WITH EVERYTHING FACTORED IN, THIS JUST SHOWS A COMPARISON OF AUSTIN ENERGY TO OUR PEERS. UH, TIES BACK TO THE LAST SLIDE, THE 121 THAT WE'RE SEEING RIGHT HERE PER MONTH FOR THE TYPICAL RATE PAYER. AND WE COMPARE THAT TO CCP C-P-S-P-E-C BLUE BOND IN GEORGETOWN. UM, AND THE, THE WAY THAT THIS, UM, CHART IS DEVELOPED IS LOOKING AT THE MOST RECENTLY PUBLISHED DATA THAT WE HAVE AVAILABLE FOR THIS PEER GROUP. UH, WE DETERMINE WHAT THE AVERAGE USAGE IS PER BILL, AND THEN WE APPLY CURRENT RATES. SO IT'S AN ADJUSTED BILL BASED UPON CURRENT RATES. AND SO YOU CAN SEE, STILL SEE THAT AUSTIN ENERGY, UH, RATES FAVORABLY RELATIVE TO OUR OTHER PEERS IN ERCOT. WITH THAT SAID, THAT CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION AS INSIDE OF AN HOUR QUESTIONS. I CAN'T READ THAT BANNER. WHAT'S IT SAY? CYRUS. CYRUS. OKAY. SO ALAN CYRUS, I SEE SOME HANDS. CYRUS, DID YOU GO FIRST? YEAH, SO I, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'RE THE PERSON WHO HAS THIS, THIS, UH, THE ANSWER OR NOT, BUT, UM, WE'VE HAD THE DISCUSSION BEFORE ABOUT THE, UH, 5%, UH, PROPOSED BASE RATE INCREASE AND HOW THAT IS ALLOCATED. UM, AND SO I GUESS MY FIRST QUESTION IS THAT 5%, UH, BASE RATE INCREASE IS ON ALL FIRST QUESTION THAT'S ON ALL CUSTOMER CLASSES, CORRECT? CORRECT. NOT, OKAY. AND THEN MY SECOND QUESTION IS HOW IS IT BEING DISTRIBUTED? I THINK SOME IN THE AUDIENCE KNOW THAT, UH, WE OBJECTED TO A, UH, IN PREVIOUS YEARS WHERE, UM, YOU WERE ONLY ALLOCATING IT TO CERTAIN, UM, YOU KNOW, CERTAIN OF THE, OF THE TIERED ENERGY RATES, UH, VERSUS ALL. AND WE WOULD, YOU KNOW, FAR PREFER IT TO BE DISTRIBUTED AMONG, UM, THE DIFFERENT, YOU KNOW, USERS OF ENERGY, THE, THE, THE ONES WHO USE LESS, THE ONES WHO USE MORE. HOW, DO YOU KNOW HOW IT'S BEING APPLIED IN THE PROPOSED BUDGET? YES. SO YOU'RE CORRECT. IT'S SPREAD, THE 5% IS IMPACTING ALL CUSTOMERS. AND AS FAR AS HOW IT'S SPREAD FOR RESIDENTIAL, UM, IT'S 5% ACROSS THE CUSTOMER CHARGE AND THE TIERS. THERE'S A VERY MINUSCULE, UH, INCREASE OVER AND ABOVE THE 5% FOR CUSTOMER CHARGE JUST TO ROUND TO THE NICKEL, UH, TO MAKE IT EASY. BUT CUSTOMER CHARGE FOR RESIDENTIAL, THE WAY IT'S STRUCTURED RIGHT NOW, WE'RE ANTICIPATING $17 AND 35 CENTS FOR THE RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER. IT'S $16 AND 50 CENTS NOW, AND THEN 5% ACROSS ALL FOUR TIERS LAST YEAR. AS YOU, UM, CLARIFIED, WE INCREASED THE CUSTOMER CHARGE BY A DOLLAR 50 AND WE INCREASED. WE PUT THE REST OF THE INCREASE IN THE FIRST TIER THIS YEAR BASED UPON INPUT FROM EUC AMONGST OTHERS. WE SPREAD THE INCREASE ACROSS THE CUSTOMER CHARGE AND THE TIERS EQUITABLY. AND THE GOAL HERE IS TO MAKE SURE IN THE END THAT AUSTIN ENERGY'S ABLE TO STAY WHOLE SO THAT WE DON'T CONTINUE TO GENERATE THESE DEFICITS. AND SO THAT'S THE WAY THAT WE STRUCTURE THE RATES. AND, AND YOU SAW IN THE FUND SUMMARY THAT IT LOOKS LIKE IF WE'RE ABLE TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN IMPLEMENTING THAT, WE'LL BE ABLE TO START BECOMING POSITIVE, UH, IN OUR WORKING CAPITAL. I THINK WE PROJECTED 2.2 MILLION FOR NEXT YEAR AS OPPOSED TO THE DEFICIT, UH, THAT WE'RE SEEING FOR THIS YEAR. OKAY. I APPRECIATE THAT CHANGE. YOU BE THANK YOU. BET. YOU BET. I'M, I'M WONDERING, LOOKING AT THE LARGE BUBBLE OF, OF CAPITAL EXPENSES, WHICH EVEN THOUGH YOU DON'T BREAK IT OUT, HAS TO BE LARGELY RELATED TO THE PEAKERS AND ARE DETERIORATING FINANCIAL CONDITION DURING THOSE YEARS. IS THERE A WAY TO SHOW WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE WITH AND WITHOUT THE PEAKERS? UM, SO I, I, I KNOW WE'VE SPOKEN ABOUT SOME OF THIS THAT, UM, OBVIOUSLY TO PAY FOR CAPITAL ASSETS, YOU'VE GOTTA PAY FOR IT FIRST AND, AND, AND CARE IN RELATION TO THE PEAKERS, THOSE PEAKERS AREN'T GONNA COME ONLINE UNTIL 2030. SO THERE'S BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH THOSE PEAKERS, UH, THAT WE'RE NOT ABLE TO SEE IN A FIVE YEAR LOOK. UM, [01:40:01] AND SO WE'VE MODELED IT OUT, UH, 20 YEARS AND OVER THE LONG HAUL, UH, IT IS, IT IS FINANCIALLY BENEFICIAL, UH, IN TERMS OF DOLLARS, UH, IN ORDER TO, UH, IMPLEMENT THESE PEAKERS. SO, UM, I UNDERSTAND, UH, WHERE YOU'RE GOING WITH THAT, COMMISSIONER BRADEN, AND I THINK PART OF IT IS, IS THAT IT'S JUST SUCH A SHORT-TERM LOOK OVER A LONG-TERM, UH, CAPITAL PROJECT THAT IT'S HARD TO SEE WHAT THE BENEFITS ARE IN THIS FIVE-YEAR VIEWPOINT. WELL, I APPRECIATE THAT AND UH, I GUESS I'VE OFTEN ARGUED FOR LONGER PLANS, SO IS IT POSSIBLE TO, TO SHOW US WHAT THE 20 YEAR LOOK, LOOK, LOOKS LIKE? I COULD TAKE THAT UNDER ADVISEMENT AND, UH, AND SEE WHAT WE COULD DO. OKAY. APPRECIATE IT. YOU BET YOU THAT THAT WOULD, THAT WOULD HELP. YEAH, BECAUSE I DO, I DO KNOW YOU'RE PAYING FOR IT UP FRONT AND GETTING SOME BENEFIT LATER. THAT'S RIGHT. BUT IT WOULD BE, IT WOULD BE GOOD TO SEE THAT AND, AND IN PARALLEL, I GUESS I WISH THAT WE WOULD OFTEN DO LONGER TERM, UH, GEN PLANNING TOO. YES. YEAH, LIKE I SAID, IT WAS A, UM, IT'S A 20 YEAR LOOK, UM, BUT WE JUST DON'T SHOW IT IN THIS VIEW OF THE BUDGET, SO, OKAY. I THANK YOU. I UNDERSTAND YOUR POINT. THANKS. YOU BETCHA. RAEL. COMMISSIONER ALVAREZ, WHAT'S THE EYE TEST BANNER? I WENT MUTE. MICROPHONE DOESN'T WORK. PUT IT IN THE CHAT. CAN YOU PUT YOUR QUESTION IN THE CHAT? OKAY. HOW ABOUT NOW? YEAH, THERE WE GO. THAT'S BETTER. SORRY, . YEAH. TEAMS, YOU KNOW, , UM, WE, UH, YEAH, A COUPLE QUESTIONS. I WAS TRYING TO, A LITTLE FOGGY ON SORT OF HOW CIP AND SORT OF THE GENERAL OPERATIONS SORT OF INTERACT. SO I, SO IT KIND OF GOES BACK TO IN THE CIP SLIDE WITH THE SLIDE A KIND OF, WE SHOW THAT POWER PRODUCTION IN FI 2027, JUMPING TO FROM 55 TO SIX 36 MILLION, RIGHT? 55 MILLION. SO, SO ONE QUESTION IS, AGAIN, HOW DOES, DOES THAT IN ANY WAY KIND OF HINDER AFFECT RIGHT RATES IN ANY WAY? RIGHT? JUST 'CAUSE AGAIN, JUST REMIND ME, UH, SORT OF HOW THAT, HOW WE PAY FOR THAT, WHETHER IT'S, YEAH. SO, AND THEN, AND THEN THE OTHER QUESTION, UM, JUST SO I CAN GET 'EM BOTH OUT THERE, SO YOU HAVE THAT SLIDE EIGHT, UM, AND THEN YOU HAVE SLIDE 12 WHERE WE SHOW CIP CASH TRANSFER AND FY 2027 CHOSE 88 MILLION. SO IF YOU COULD JUST HELP ME UNDERSTAND WHY THE NUMBERS ARE DIFFERENT. AND AGAIN, I'M SURE. SO, OKAY. SO YEAH, IT'LL MAKE SENSE ONCE YOU EXPLAIN IT, BUT, UH, THAT'S, THAT'S REALLY WHERE I'M COMING FROM. OKAY. I'LL, I'LL DO MY BEST. AND YOU CLARIFY WITH OTHER QUESTIONS. THE CIP CASH TRANSFER ON THE SLIDE THAT WE'RE LOOKING RIGHT HERE ON AT RIGHT NOW, IT STARTS OFF WITH 88.7 IN FISCAL YEAR 27 AND GOES DOWN TO 79.5 BY 2031. THAT REPRESENTS THE CASH PORTION. UH, WHAT WE NEED TO FUND, UH, TO, UM, KEEP THE EQUITY BALANCE BETWEEN THE AMOUNT OF, UH, CIP THAT'S FUNDED WITH, UH, CASH VERSUS DEBT. SO WE DON'T FUND A HUNDRED PERCENT OF OUR CIP WITH DEBT. WE FUND IT, IT, IT DEPENDS ON THE YEAR. UM, AND LIKE I SAID, OVER THE FIVE YEAR PERIOD, IT'S 27% CASH, 73% DEBT, BUT EVERY YEAR VARIES A LITTLE BIT. UM, SO THAT'S JUST THE, IF YOU WANT EQUITY PORTION OF WHAT GETS FUNDED TO PAY FOR CIP, THE REST OF ITS DEBT. THEN WE ALSO HAVE THE DEBT SERVICE. AND THE DEBT SERVICE IS CLIMBING BECAUSE AS WE SPEND MORE ON CAPITAL AND WE FINANCE MORE OF IT WITH DEBT, OUR DEBT SERVICE IS GONNA CLIMB. AND SO THE RATES THAT WE FACTOR IN OR PLAN FOR, UH, TRY TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE MAINTAINING THE DEBT SERVICE THAT'S REQUIRED ACCORDING TO THE DEBT COVENANTS. UM, AND ALSO KEEPS US HEALTHY IN TERMS OF THE AMOUNT OF CASH WE CAN HOLD BACK TO PUT TO RESERVES. SO THAT'S WHY YOU SEE ON THE FUND SUMMARY, UH, WHICH I THINK IS THE SLIDE BEFORE THIS, UH, THAT OUR, UH, UH, ONE MORE, MAYBE ONE MORE UP. ONE MORE AND ONE MORE. SO TWO MORE, ONE MORE. SORRY, I'M GOING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. I SHOULD JUST LOOK AT MY HARD COPY. [01:45:01] SO ON THE, ON THE FUND SUMMARY, WHICH IS SLIDE 12, SORRY DUDE, THANKS FOR BEARING WITH ME. UM, ON THE FUND SUMMARY, YOU CAN SEE THE AE RESERVE TRANSFER STARTS OFF AT ZERO. SO AT THIS POINT FOR 26 AND PRETTY MUCH FOR 27 TO 28, WE'RE NOT FUNDING MUCH IN TERMS OF WHAT OUR RESERVE REQUIREMENTS ARE. SO, UH, THERE'S MULTIPLE RESERVES THAT WE HAVE TO MAINTAIN, UH, FOR, TO MAINTAIN A RISK PROFILE AND TO MAINTAIN OUR DEEDS. CASH ON THE HAND, WE'RE NOT ABLE TO FUND THAT, UH, AT THE LEVEL THAT WE'D LIKE, PRIMARILY BECAUSE WE'RE USING CASH TO HELP PAY FOR, UH, UH, CASH TRANSFERS THAT WE NEED FOR DEBT, AS WELL AS THE CASH PORTION OF, UM, THE DEBT. AND FOR THE CIP PROJECT, SO DEBT SERVICE, CIP, CASH TRANSFER, UM, AND, UM, THE EIGHT RESERVE TRANSFERS ARE ALL RELATED. UM, AND THAT'S ALSO RELATED TO THE DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE RATIO AND THE, UH, DEBT TO CAPITAL RATIO THAT WE SHOW ON THE, UH, KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS. YEAH. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I WAS, I WAS, I KNOW IT'S CONFUSING. CA I WAS, I WAS JUST LOOKING AT THE CASH PART, NOT THE DEBT PART. SO IT MAKES A LOT MORE SENSE HERE. OKAY, THANKS. OKAY. IT'S ALL RELATED. KAA, YOU HAD A QUESTION? OH, I WAS JUST WONDERING, I, IT SEEMS LIKE THESE SLIDES WERE NOT ONLINE. I KNOW WE DID GET THEM IN OUR PACKET. ARE THEY GONNA GET POSTED? WE'LL CHECK. DO Y'ALL SEE 'EM? OKAY, THE OTHER COMMISSIONERS HAVE, HAVE THEM. COMMISSIONER WHITE? I'M NOT SURE. WERE YOU I HAVE IT. I HAVE IT. I JUST DIDN'T SEE IT ONLINE. I'M LOOKING AT IT ONLINE RIGHT NOW. OKAY. IT'S POSTED ONLINE. MAYBE I MISSED IT. OKAY. BUT YOU'VE GOT IT. MOST IMPORTANTLY, . YEP. OKAY. OTHER QUESTIONS? JAB, YOU WANNA TAKE YOUR HAND DOWN? OKAY, THEN. THANK YOU, JOHN. THANK YOU. WE MOVE [11. Discussion and possible action on a recommendation to require a separate public meeting on any rate increase proposed for FY2027 and to initiate a rate case process with FY2026 as the test year. (Sponsors: Reed, White)] TO ITEM 11. COMMISSIONER REED, DO YOU WANT TO GO THROUGH YOUR RECOMMENDATION? YEAH. UM, THIS IS, HOPEFULLY EVERYONE RECOGNIZES THIS RECOMMENDATION. WE WERE GONNA TALK ABOUT IT SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, AND FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, YOU KNOW, WE DIDN'T HAVE A MEETING IN, UM, LAST MONTH AND THEN THE MONTH BEFORE WE WERE, UH, BUSY DEBATING THE POWER PRODUCTION, UH, AND, AND PEAKER DECISION, UH, WHICH, YOU KNOW, AS YOU REMEMBER WENT. WE HAD A LOT OF DISCUSSION ON THAT. SO WE, WE NEVER GOT TO THIS, UM, RECOMMENDATION. AND THIS, I'M, I'M GLAD THAT WE HAD THE PRESENTATION THAT WE JUST HAD, UM, BECAUSE IT GETS TO THE HEART OF THIS MATTER, WHICH IS, UM, AUSTIN ENERGY IS PROPOSING BOTH FOR NEXT YEAR, BUT ALSO GOING FORWARD, A 5% INCREASE IN BASE RATES. AND I UNDERSTAND WHY THEY'RE DOING THAT. I'M NOT ARGUING ABOUT THAT. UH, BUT THIS RESOLUTION, WHICH WAS ALSO WITH INPUT FROM AND I BELIEVE L AS WELL, UH, BASICALLY SAYS, UM, FOR THE BUDGET DISCUSSIONS HAPPENING AT CITY COUNCIL IN THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS, THERE SHOULD BE A, UH, SEPARATE PUBLIC HEARING HELD IN THE EVENING ON THE RATE ON THE PROPOSED RATE INCREASE. THAT'S PART OF THE BUDGET FOR, UM, AUSTIN ENERGY RATES. UH, SO THAT'S ONE COMPONENT THAT'S PROBABLY NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT. THE MORE IMPORTANT COMPONENT IS THAT NEXT YEAR IN 2027, WE SHOULD START A, UH, RATE CASE PROCESS. UM, AND A RATE CASE PROCESS IS SOMETHING WE DID IN 2022, AND WE ALSO DID IN 2016, WHERE THE CITY OF AUSTIN WOULD HIRE WHAT'S ESSENTIALLY AN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE AND ALSO HIRE A CONSUMER ADVOCATE THAT WOULD REPRESENT RESIDENTIAL CONSUMERS. AND THEN ANY PARTIES WHO WANTED TO ENTER INTO THAT, UM, RATE PROCESS COULD, COULD DO SO, UH, ON, YOU KNOW, BASICALLY ON THEIR OWN DIME SHOULD THEY CHOOSE. UM, BUT IT WOULD ASSURE THAT THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE PUBLIC, UH, HAS A PROCESS TO LOOK AT PROPOSED RATES, UM, AND, AND, YOU KNOW, OPINE AND THAT CITY COUNCIL WOULD, WOULD ULTIMATELY APPROVE ANY NEW RATE STRUCTURE, UM, SINCE THEY'RE THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. AND SO WE'VE DONE THIS IN 2016, UH, WE DID IN 2022. AND THE EXPECTATIONS IS THAT WE SHOULD DO THIS ONCE EVERY FIVE YEARS. SO THAT WOULD BE, WE WOULD BE SE CITY COUNCIL COULD CHOOSE TO ACT ON IT OR NOT, BUT WE'D BE SENDING, IF PEOPLE AGREE, WE WOULD BE SENDING THIS RECOMMENDATION WITH TWO COMPONENTS, HAVE A, [01:50:01] UH, YOU KNOW, A PUBLIC MEETING ON THE PROPOSED INCREASE FOR 2027, BUT THEN IN 2027 START A RATE CASE PROCESS, UH, FOR, YOU KNOW, GOING FORWARD THAT WOULD AFFECT FUTURE YEARS, UH, IN TERMS OF, OF THE RATES AND HOW WE ALLOCATE THOSE RATES. AND I DON'T KNOW IF CA OR ANYONE ELSE HAS ANYTHING ELSE TO SAY AND HAPPY TO WALK THROUGH THE PARTICULARS, BUT THAT'S BASICALLY WHAT IT SAYS. ANY COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS ON IT? ALRIGHT. I THOUGHT LAST TIME WE DISCUSSED THIS, THERE WAS ALSO DISCUSSION OF THE STANDARD PROCESS, A E USES TO LOOK AT THESE THINGS AND THERE WAS SOME MAYBE, UM, I GUESS DUPLICATION OF TIMELINE OF WHAT AE WAS ALREADY GONNA DO AND WHAT WAS PROPOSED. AM I REMEMBERING THAT CORRECTLY OR CAN SOMEONE CLARIFY THAT? DOES ANYONE ELSE REMEMBER THAT? LIKE, SOME SORT OF RATE ANALYSIS THAT HAPPENS EVERY FIVE YEARS? JUST RINGING A BELL. SO I THINK WE MIGHT BE THINKING OF THE COST OF SERVICE STUDY. MAYBE, MAYBE, AND THIS IS A DIFFERENT PROCESS, BUT THAT'S LIKE THE PRECURSOR, UH, WELL THE RATE, THE, UM, COST OF SERVICE STUDY IS A PRECURSOR TO THE RATE CASE. SO THIS WOULD BE LIKE AN ENHANCED VERSION OF THAT. UM, IT'S LIKE, IT'S THE FOUNDATIONAL DOCUMENT FOR THE RATE CASE. YEAH. AND WE SAY IN THIS, UH, IN THIS PROPOSED, UM, RESOLUTION, WE SAY THEY SHOULD USE THE 20, 26 YEARS AS THAT COST OF SERVICE, YOU KNOW, STARTING THE PROCESS THERE. SO I THINK WE WERE TRYING TO ACTUALLY MIRROR BASICALLY WHAT WAS DONE IN 2022. I DON'T THINK WE'RE TRYING TO DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT THAN WHAT WE'VE DONE IN THE PAST. YEAH. BUT AGAIN, IT'S, IT WOULD BE A RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL THAT, YOU KNOW, WE CAN'T START THE PROCESS. CITY COUNCIL HAS TO, YOU KNOW, ORDER THAT TO HAPPEN AND, AND SOMETIME EARLY NEXT YEAR. OKAY. ANY, YEAH, I THINK I'LL, I'LL JUST ADD, UM, I THINK THAT IN PREVIOUS CONVERSATIONS WE WERE EITHER TALKING ABOUT TWO THINGS TOGETHER OR, BUT I THINK WE WERE, THERE WAS SOME RECOMMENDATION AROUND A CERTAIN KIND OF MODELING, BUT OBVI THAT'S CLEARLY NOT HERE, RIGHT? SO I THINK, UM, UM, I THINK THAT MIGHT BE WHAT YOU'RE RECALLING IS THAT THERE'S SOME PERCEIVED DUPLICATION OF SOME KIND, BUT I DON'T, I THINK THIS IS A PRETTY CLEAN RECOMMENDATION. I APPRECIATE THE SPONSORS FOR BRINGING IT FORWARD. THERE ARE A LOT OF HAND SIGNALS I THINK FROM COMMISSIONER BEVIS. I CAN'T TELL IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE WITH THE RAISING OF THE HAND OFFICIALLY OR YOU'RE TRYING TO CLEAN YOUR SCREEN OR WHAT. OH, OKAY. WE'RE FINE. AL YOU GOT A QUESTION? UH, YEAH, I THINK THIS IS A STANDARD RATE CASE PROCESS THAT WE'VE GONE THROUGH PERIODICALLY AND, UH, NEEDS TO BE UPDATED PERIODICALLY. SO TAKING 26 AS THE BASE YEAR AND GATHERING ALL THAT DATA IS FOUNDATIONAL, AS EVA SAID, TO BEING ABLE THEN TO ALLOCATE THE, THE NEW RATES TO COVER ALL THOSE COSTS. BUT THERE'S BEEN SO MANY CHANGES IN BIG CHUNKS OF ENERGY AND GENERATION IN THE LAST FEW YEARS THAT IT, IT IS TIME TO TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT IT. YEAH. AND ALSO, I MEAN, AGAIN, THERE ARE, THERE ARE POLICY ISSUES THAT CITY COUNCIL WILL NEED TO DECIDE AND THE RATE CASE CREATES THAT BASIS TO DECIDE THOSE, LIKE THE, THE POLICY ON THE GENERAL FUND TRANSFER, THE THE THREE YEAR AVERAGE. IS THAT THE RIGHT, YOU KNOW, IS THAT THE RIGHT PERCENTAGE? MAYBE IT IS, MAYBE IT'S NOT. BUT IT ALLOWS YOU, IT ALLOWS EVERYONE TO TAKE UP THOSE ISSUES, UH, AND SEE WHAT'S FAIR. AND OBVIOUSLY, YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT JUST RESIDENTIAL CONSUMERS, BUT THE LARGE INDUSTRIAL CONSUMERS AND THE COMMERCIAL CUS CUSTOMERS, THEY CARE ABOUT RATES AS WELL AND THEY WANNA SEAT AT THE TABLE TO, YOU KNOW, PROVIDE THEIR INPUT. SO I THINK IT'S A GOOD, IT'S BEEN A GOOD PROCESS IN THE PAST. UH, THE ONLY CLARIFICATION I'D LIKE TO SEE INSERTED IS EVERY TIME THERE'S A MENTION OF THE CUSTOMER CHARGE THAT THERE'S PARENTHESES FOR NON CAP CUSTOMERS JUST TO HELP REINFORCE THE CAP. CUSTOMERS DON'T PAY CUSTOMER CHARGES. I WILL ACCEPT THAT AS A FRIENDLY AMENDMENT. , ANY OTHER MODIFICATIONS FOR, I MEAN, BASICALLY THIS IS REINFORCING, PLEASE CONTINUE ON THE PLAN OF DOING A RATE CASE AND GET READY FOR IT, RIGHT? YEAH. AND WE HAVE THE ONE ADDITIONAL ASK, WHICH IS TO MAKE SURE THERE'S A, [01:55:01] A SPECIFIC EVENING MEETING ON THE, ON THE PROPOSED RATE INCREASE FOR 2027. JUST 'CAUSE SOMETIMES IT'S HARD FOR PEOPLE TO GET, YOU KNOW, UH, GET TO THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MM-HMM . SO NIKKI, DO YOU NEED EXACT WORDS? YOU CAN SAY THAT IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN AFTER EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER CHARGE IN PARENTHESES. AND THEN CYRUS, IF YOU WOULD PLEASE SEND ME AN UPDATED VERSION TONIGHT OR FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. YEAH, I CAN DO THAT. OKAY. WELL, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSION ON THIS? I, I JUST HAD A QUESTION FOR AUSTIN ENERGY. WHERE WERE YOU CONTEMPLATING A COST OF SERVICE STUDY IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS? ANYWAY, GOOD EVENING COMMISSIONERS. I'M STEPHANIE CADEL. I'M AUSTIN ENERGY. AUSTIN ENERGY, CFO. SO CONTEMPLATING, UM, WOULD BE IN LINE WITH WHAT OUR FINANCIAL POLICIES ASK US TO DO, WHICH IS THE REVENUE ADEQUACY. AND I THINK THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE REFERRING TO EARLIER, THAT EVERY FIVE YEARS AT A MINIMUM WE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT WHETHER OUR COSTS ARE BEING RECOVERED APPROPRIATELY THROUGH OUR BASE RATES AND WHERE ARE WE ON THAT FIVE YEAR CYCLE. SO THAT WOULD BE, UM, AS MENTIONED EARLIER, THE LAST TEST YEAR WAS FISCAL YEAR 21. AND SO FY 26, WHICH HAS NOT CONCLUDED YET, AS WE KNOW, WOULD BE THE NEXT YEAR THAT WE WOULD DO THAT. REVENUE REVENUE ADEQUACY REVIEW. OKAY. THANK YOU. OKAY. ANY OTHER DISCUSSION? SO, CYRUS, K IT YOU WANNA MAKE A MOTION AND A SECOND? I WILL MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE RESOLUTION AS AMENDED BY THE CHAIR. SECOND. ALL IN FAVOR, ABSTAIN OR, OKAY. PASSES. OKAY, THANK YOU. LET'S GO TO 12. [12. Approve the creation of a working group focused on Local Solar + Battery permitting and installation processes. (Sponsors: Braden, Tuttle) ] THIS SHOULD BE FAIRLY SIMPLE. AL DO YOU WANNA GO OVER THIS? UH, YEAH. WE'VE BEEN, WE'VE BEEN TALKING FOR MOST OF THE YEAR ABOUT, UH, WORKING TO STREAMLINE, UH, THE SOLAR PERMITTING AND INSPECTION PROCESS. AND, UH, STAFF HAS DONE A LOT OF WORK. WE'VE HAD MEETINGS WITH STAFF, BUT WE, WE LIKE TO HAVE A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK AT THIS WHOLE THING AND MAKE SURE THAT WE'VE ANALYZED ALL THE STEPS AND GET ALL THE RELEVANT PARTIES INVOLVED. SO THIS RESOLUTION WOULD CREATE A WORKING GROUP WHICH COULD CREATE A, COULD CONTAIN A SUB QUORUM OF, UH, EUC MEMBERS. ALSO A SUB QUORUM OF RMC MEMBERS WHO ARE GONNA HOPEFULLY PASS THE SAME RESOLUTION TOMORROW NIGHT AT THE RMC MEETING. AND ALSO INVOLVE, UH, STAFF AS APPROPRIATE AND WILLING AND ALSO INVOLVE, UH, STAKEHOLDERS, ESPECIALLY, UH, SOLAR AUSTIN KIND OF SPEARHEADING A GROUP OF, UH, PEOPLE WHO ARE SOLAR INSTALLERS. SO THE, THE WHOLE GOAL OF THIS IS TRY TO MAKE THIS PROCESS SIMPLER, CHEAPER, AND MORE EFFECTIVE SO WE CAN REACH OUR, UH, SOLAR INSTALLATION GOALS. IT'S A VOLUNTARY COMMITTEE AND, UH, AUSTIN ENERGY IS, UH, I THINK WOULD BE ASKED TO HOST, YOU KNOW, PROVIDE A, A ROOM AND PLACE WHERE WE CAN MEET AND PERHAPS COMMUNICATION, BUT THEY'RE NOT COMMITTED TO STAFF STAFFING IT OTHER THAN, UH, PARTICIPANTS AS ARE WILLING. SO I URGE YOU TO, TO HELP US GET THIS GROUP GOING. I ANTICIPATE WE COULD FORM IT IN SEPTEMBER AND, AND START MEETING. AND THE ULTIMATE OUTPUT WOULD BE A RECOMMENDATION EITHER TO AE AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ON THINGS THAT THEY WOULD BE WILLING TO DO OR A RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL ON THINGS THAT WE WOULD HOPE THEY WOULD DO. LIMITATION, WE JUST HAVE TO AVOID A QUORUM. SO, FIVE OR LESS. RIGHT. AND, UH, WHO ELSE BESIDES ALAN, MYSELF MIGHT WANT JOIN THAT KAABA. OKAY. CYRUS, DO YOU HAVE YOUR HAND UP? NO, I'M TRYING TO LIMIT THE NUMBER OF THINGS I'M INVOLVED IN. . , OKAY. YEAH, YOU'RE GONNA BE UNDER THE DOME. OH, WE'LL GET ROLLING ON THIS MORE IN SEPTEMBER. IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WANNA JOIN, PLEASE AND YOU RECONSIDER IT, PLEASE DO [02:00:01] SO. UM, AL YOU WANNA MAKE A MOTION? I'LL MAKE A SECOND. OKAY. I, I MOVE THAT WE, UH, MOVE TO, UH, FORM A WORKING GROUP AND COOPERATION WITH THE EUC AND STAFF AND STAKEHOLDERS, UH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF, UH, EVALUATING AND MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS ON STREAMLINING SOLAR INSTALLATION AND BATTERY PROCESSES. I SECOND, WELL YOU SAID WITH THE UC, BUT I THINK YOU MEANT WITH THE RMC, RIGHT? YES. YES. I MISSPOKE. SORRY. THANK YOU. OKAY. IN FAVOR. OKAY. UNANIMOUS. OKAY. I THINK WE'VE GONE THROUGH OUR AGENDA. SO IT IS 8 0 4, LET'S ADJOURN. DOES THAT MEAN WE ALREADY EXCEEDED OUR NUMBER OF RECOMMENDATIONS PASSED FROM LAST ? WE'VE ALREADY, WE'VE ALREADY BEATEN LAST YEAR IN ONE MEETING, WE HAD TWO RECOMMENDATIONS. YEAH. WELL, WE MATCHED, WE BECOMING MORE EFFICIENT. THANKS. THIS LAST ONE IS A RESPONSE TO THE PUBLIC TOO. I WILL SAY THAT. YES. ALL RIGHT. I'M GONNA SAY TWO TO IT TOOK A LITTLE BIT LONGER. TOO BAD. IT'S NOT BAD. * This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting.