Austin Energy has finalized a 10-year, $735 million plan to improve system reliability and limit power outages in the face of mounting disruptions from aging infrastructure and severe weather.

The setup

The December release of AE's decade-long Electric System Resiliency Plan, or ESRP, capped off recent resiliency reviews in the wake of the three most impactful extreme weather events in the utility's history. Those included winter storms Uri and Mara in 2021 and 2023, respectively, and this May's microburst storm that affected roughly 124,000 AE customers.

AE completed its own internal evaluations of all three events. After the 2023 ice storm, City Council also asked the utility to look into burying thousands of miles of power lines to avoid future weather-related impacts. Consultant 1898 & Co. released studies into that concept, as well as hardening existing overhead lines, this year.

Given the string of severe weather and building on the two completed consultant reports, AE announced its ESRP for an improved power grid Dec. 16.

“We had already started along this path after the first two [storms], and then you turn around and hit that third one and it just reaffirms that we need to go down this path," David Tomczyszyn, AE's vice president of electrical system engineering and technical services, said in an interview. "The big thing is to strengthen and harden our grid to keep the lights on, No. 1: reliability. But when something happens, we need to be able to spring back and recover—that’s that resilience piece—faster and restore power in the shortest amount of time, and get as many customers on as fast as we can.”

The approach

AE is more reliable than the typical Texas utility today, based on industry power outage standards, although General Manager Stuart Reilly said "there's always room for improvement." AE is now pushing for strategic improvements officials hope can bring positive impacts and reduce risks for customers, Tomczyszyn said.

"We do need to take a renewed focus on how to do this, and do it faster and more efficient," he said. "We can’t do enough fast enough, as far as hardening the system.”The ESRP blueprint will see AE spend tens of millions of dollars annually through fiscal year 2034-35 on resiliency-based projects and new technology implementation such as:

• Hardening overhead power distribution through strategies like improved vegetation management, or tree trimming, and both ground-level and aerial pole inspections across the AE service area
• Undergrounding power lines in select locations where benefits may outweigh the process's significant costs
• Sectionalizing more of the utility system into smaller, controllable segments to limit disruptions to smaller areas
• Adding more equipment like trip savers and reclosers, which function like residential circuit breakers to automatically reset service without requiring human intervention to fix an outage
• Improving internal grid data-tracking tools

"It gives the ability to ... adapt and move and shift if technologies change or there’s something better out there," Tomczyszyn said of the ESRP. "It’s just trying to be good stewards of our customers’ money and impact positively as many customers as fast as we can.”

To start, he said upgrades will take place wherever they make the biggest difference for the most amount of customers. The utility plans to continue scaling its approach around the Austin area over the coming decade.

Some customers may see service impacts as the utility rolls out pieces of its plan. AE crews are trained to work with live wires, but Tomczyszyn said safety considerations may require limited outages in some cases, accompanied with resident notifications.

“All our operating practices are about keeping the lights on, unless it is keeping you from working safe. At which time, then we go door to door and let people know that they’re going to be out, and how long," he said.

The cost

AE will spend $60 million of its current FY 2025-26 budget on ESRP projects from tree trimming to automation updates. Annual costs could be slightly higher in some future years based on the all expenses currently projected for the initiative.Estimates could change based on future conditions and further analysis by the utility. The ESRP notes that several factors could impact the plan's outlook, from local budgeting impacts to state-level regulatory updates and wider supply change issues.

The 10-year spending outline has already been accounted for under AE's planned rate structure, Tomczyszyn said. The utility will pursue outside grants to support the plan as well.

What's next

While some residents may notice utility crews working on upgrades in their neighborhoods as implementation takes place, AE will also launch a public progress dashboard to note project updates and monitor the progress toward ESRP goals. It'll also highlight where AE stands in relation to industry averages for power outage response, and how planned reliability improvements impact those metrics.

"I’ve committed by summer that we would have something out there to show our progress, so we’re showing, we’re doing what we said we’re going to do," Tomczyszyn said. "The whole point is, our indices across the board should be going down over time—and down is good. That means less outages, and each outage lasted less amount of time.”