Councilman Courage Proposes Solutions To Protect San Antonio Residents From Energy Costs And Ensure Accountability

Press release from the City of San Antonio:

February 23, 2021

CONTACT: Ryder Billo
Ryder.Billo@sanantonio.gov

SAN ANTONIO (Feb. 23, 2021) — With a scarcity of power across the state last week and an abundance of demand, energy companies racked up potentially enormous bills. Regardless of where the blame lies, I’m certain these costs should not be passed along to ratepayers. Councilman Courage provides some options for consideration to help residents with repair costs and paths to greater accountability of our San Antonio utility companies.

• Consider available funding options, for example the possible use of a portion of our 15% Contingency Fund, to mitigate the costs of repairs, bills, and community losses.
• Determine the 3 to 5-year average CPS and SAWS revenue, then possibly tie future growth over this average to utility relief and assistance for a specified period of time.
• Establish a Council Utility Committee to focus on information gathering, review, and analysis concerning the management, operations and finances of our Public Utilities.
• Call for a change in State law to permit expansion of the CPS Energy board from 5 to 7 members to allow greater community participation and accountability.

“The devastation from this winter storm revealed massive oversight and holes in our energy grid and with the system itself. Now that some normalcy has come back into our lives, it’s time to begin recovery and ensure this doesn’t happen again.” – Councilman John Courage, District 9

This press release was produced by the City of San Antonio. The views expressed here are the author’s own.