Austin Energy making progress on discounts for low-income customers

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Energy says it has enrolled 66,000 customers in its discount program for low-income customers since starting more aggressive enrollment strategies in 2022. The utility company said it's hoping to get tens of thousands more signed up by 2025.

Ronnie Mendoza, Austin Energy's Customer Assistance Program manager, said the agency is on par to reach its enrollment goals for June as it closes in on 66,000 enrollments.

Last July, we previously reported the agency had 53,100 accounts enrolled in its discount program, with the eventual goal of enrolling as many as 93,000 households.

Mendoza credits much of that expansion to ramping up efforts to reach out to low-income households that qualify. He said the board that guides the program has leaders from groups serving those communities, and that brainstorming power has been instrumental in this effort.

He said the next big number Austin Energy wants to hit is 83,000 enrollments in 2025. One way he said the utility is trying to accomplish that is by working with Austin ISD to share information on low-income households.

Mendoza said the agencies have been working on agreements to share that information for about a year and half, with no real end date ahead.

Customers that receive benefits such as SNAP or CHIP are automatically enrolled in Austin Energy's discount program, Mendoza said. He said the goal by sharing this information is to have households that receive free or reduced lunches qualify for that same auto-enrollment.

He said the biggest hurdle during these talks has been working out how to identify those homes and how to share information between Austin Energy and AISD securely.

While that is still in the works, Mendoza said all parties are working toward the same goal.

“There's a lot of legal hurdles and things that we have to get past but as long as we're all at the table and working towards it I feel we'll get to the end goal," Mendoza said.

Mendoza said customers can self apply for these discounts online.