Austin Energy taking steps to prevent widespread outages following ice storm

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Energy is taking steps to prevent widespread outages like what Central Texas saw in February 2023.

One year after a historic ice storm hit Central Texas, knocking out electricity to nearly a third of Austin residents, Austin City Council has given the green light for an independent study of the power lines. 

Elaine Veselka, Austin Energy's vice president of electric system engineering and technical services, joined FOX 7 Austin's Mike Warren to discuss.

Mike Warren: Elaine, before we start talking about this audit, if you could bring us up to speed on what has been happening since last year's storm.

Elaine Veselka: Sure. And I can even take a stand about moving further after the ice storm in 2021. Austin Energy, applied for a federal grant to get some funding to do a review asking for hazardous conditions inside and identify any opportunities for improving that system to improve reliability for our customers. And then following the historic storm here, we initiated a study or advisory committee to study this year, about the feasibility of undergrounding our lines.

Mike Warren: Talking about the study in this evaluation. How much does that cost? And is this coming from federal grants or is the city paying for this?

Elaine Veselka: It's a portion. So one portion of the contract that was approved by city council last week is related to federal funding. And, the other half of the study will come from Boston and Phoenix budget. And that's the undergrounding infrastructure.

Mike Warren: When is this study going to be completed? And what do you hope it tells you?

Elaine Veselka: Well, we're excited to kick it off. This week and into March, we will be working with the vendor thinking about these, if you will, studies. And, ultimately, we hope to have that report back to council by the end of 2021.

Mike Warren: Okay. Talking about, we've heard so much about burying the power lines. Obviously, when they were working on that MoPac toll lanes, we all found out how tough it is to dig around here. Is that really feasible?

Elaine Veselka: That's one thing we're hoping that society will provide us with information on. You know, Austin has a variety of infrastructure and terrain. And so part of this study will be investigating. Is it even possible, in what areas? If it is possible, what would all it entail? Taken for all the considerations. So sometimes for what things might, you know, bird habitats, everything. So all those considerations, balanced with the cost and importantly, whatever, you know, there are pros and cons to that. 

Mike Warren: So at this stage, all that is theoretical. However, in September, an audit for the City Council on Vegetation Management program found that it was behind schedule. What improvements have been made toward reaching the goals there and, yeah, how far do we still have to go on that?

Elaine Veselka: Absolutely. To improve the reliability of our customers, we have instituted new vegetation management on tracks and brought on additional crews. We're working with countless green buy into circuits that need be turned back to industry standards. And they're already seeing some excellent things in those areas with an ongoing effort. Very focused again, priority as. 

Mike Warren: Well, any way you slice it, it is a big, big job. That is all the time we have for now. But Elaine Veselka with Austin Energy, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. 

Elaine Veselka: Thank you.