Greening Austin Daily

Austin Approves Plan to Get 35 Percent of its Electricity from Renewable Sources by 2020

26th April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

This article has details about city council’s decision last week to approve Austin Energy’s proposed plan to increase the amount of electricity Austin gets from renewable resources.

The article states that “At (Mayor) Leffingwell’s suggestion, the council also decreed the plan not take effect until later this year to give the city time to craft specific cost-containment goals to be considered alongside the plan’s environmental objectives.  The council will not authorize major energy purchases until the city decides how it will approach cost containment. The measure was requested by some big businesses and advocates for the poor, concerned the plan would raise rates too much. The plan does not address how the council will resolve potential conflicts between the new cost and environmental priorities.  Austin Energy estimates the plan would raise rates 20 percent.  But the utility concluded that the plan would be the best long-term hedge against possible coal and natural-gas price hikes.”

Austin Energy has pointed out before that city council’s approval of the plan does not mean that the plan cannot be adjusted in the future if changes are needed.