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Joint Sustainability Committee unanimously urges Council to require transparency, independent analysis before Austin Energy pursues gas peakers
Summary
The committee voted unanimously to recommend City Council require full competitive procurement, public engagement, fiscal-risk disclosure and independent analysis before approving Austin Energy’s request to authorize acquisition of 400 MW of natural-gas peaker capacity.
The Joint Sustainability Committee on May 21 unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Austin City Council to require transparency, competitive purchasing and independent economic analysis before Austin Energy moves forward with plans tied to natural‑gas peaking capacity.
Committee Chair (speaker S1) told members the item scheduled for Council on May 21 would ask authorization to “spend money” without stating a dollar amount or naming vendors. “They’re requesting authorization to spend money, but there is no amount listed and there is no, there’s no companies listed because they have not actually gone through the competitive purchasing process,” the Chair said, describing what the committee called a “blank check” request for roughly 400 megawatts of peakers that could cost on the order of $1 billion based on current market estimates.
Why it matters: members said the purchase would lock the city into a…
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