The Austin City Council approved a $15 hike on Austin Energy bills on Thursday, Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported.
According to KXAN, the item – one of two proposed rate hikes – drew a 7-4 vote, with dissenting votes from councilmembers Mackenzie Kelly, Paige Ellis, Natasha Harper-Madison and Vanessa Fuentes.
For Ellis, she thinks that the rate should be touched on regularly instead of annually.
“I always try to keep in mind the folks who are on fixed income where they’re paying, maybe their house is paid off, but they’re paying their utility bills and those are the cost drivers of their family budget,” she said, KXAN reported.
City leaders who backed the hike insisted it was a necessary move as a result of last year’s Winter Storm Uri, the station reported.
Per KXAN, Councilmember Alison Alter said that “external market factors” out of the city’s hands factored into the increase and Councilmember Leslie Pool asserted that the initial proposal discussed at a city council work session before the regular meeting would cause a larger dent in customers’ wallets.
The report said that the city council will take up the second item, the base rate increase, next month.
The second of two proposed rate increases places another $15 on monthly bills.
An Austin Energy-issue press release said that the rate that was just voted on will go toward $104 million in power supply adjustment costs under recovered by the company.
“We don’t take raising rates lightly, even on pass-through rates that recover hard costs like skyrocketing fuel expenses,” Austin Energy said in a tweet. “[Austin City Council and] our staff’s solution reduces sticker shock on customer bills while recovering rising costs to produce and transmit energy.”