Austin Energy explains rate buckets, PSA and general fund transfer during commission briefing

Rusty Manus, acting general manager at Austin Energy, presented a briefing explaining the different components of a customer bill and what each recovers. Manus said base rates cover distribution and operations and maintenance costs — "poles, wires, transformers" and personnel and fleet costs — while the power supply adjustment, or PSA, covers power-supply costs such as market purchases, purchased-power agreements, and fuel. He described the regulatory charge as largely for "wholesale transmission costs" that Austin Energy pays to transmission service providers in ERCOT, and the community benefit charge as a combination of service-area lighting, the energy efficiency service rate (EES) and the customer assistance program (CAP).