Who We Are

Awards and Recognition

You Benefit from an Award-Winning Utility

As your publicly owned electric utility, Austin Energy innovates and regularly develops new approaches to meeting customer and community needs. You benefit from highly trained Austin Energy staff who proactively seek opportunities to make a difference, find new efficiencies, and offer you new ways to save and thrive.

We love when these efforts earn awards as organizations around the world see how we strive to power a cleaner, brighter future with customer driven and community focused solutions. That means we have a chance to let other communities know how to better help their utility customers, too.

Check out some of our recent awards, and how each one connects with helping Austin Energy customers:

2024-Present

  • Austin Energy’s EVs for Schools initiative was named the Overall Winner of the 2025 IDC Smart Cities Awards for its innovative, education-driven approach to advancing transportation electrification, STEM learning, and environmental justice through curriculum, teacher toolkits, and hands-on student engagement.
  • Austin Energy received the Platinum Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3®) designation from the American Public Power Association for excellence in reliability, safety, workforce development, and system improvements—an honor held by just 251 utilities nationwide. The designation is valid from May 2025 through April 2028.
  • Austin Energy’s Occupational Health & Safety team earned the 2024 Diamond-level Safety Award of Excellence from the American Public Power Association, the highest recognition for outstanding efforts to reduce incidents and build a strong culture of workplace safety.
  • Austin Energy received the Silver Award for Excellence in Electric Vehicle Programs from Chartwell’s 2024 Best Practices Awards for its EVs for Schools initiative, which integrates STEM education, clean mobility, and environmental justice into school curriculums and community outreach.
  • Austin Energy won first place in the Safety, Emergencies, and Outages category at the E Source Utility Ad Awards for its Customer Outage Prep campaign, which used a multilingual, multi-channel approach to educate customers on how to prepare for and respond to power outages.
  • Austin Energy’s Electric Vehicles & Emerging Technologies team won the 2024 BikeTexas Champion Award for its E-Ride Rebate Program, which has issued over 4,000 E-bike rebates to the Austin community and expanded incentives to improve accessibility and affordability for all residents.

2022-2023

  • Austin Energy received an Excellence in Public Power Communications Award from the American Public Power Association in the Web & Social Media category in 2023 for its social media response to Winter Storm Mara.
  • Austin Energy was named a 2023 Smart Energy Provider designee by the American Public Power Association for demonstrating a commitment to and accomplishment in smart energy program planning, energy efficiency, environmental programs, and customer experience.
  • Austin Energy’s District Energy and Cooling team won the 2023 System of the Year Award (SOYA) from the International District Energy Association (IDEA). The SOYA is the highest honor IDEA can bestow on a district energy system. It recognizes high-level performance and service that furthers the goals of the district energy industry.
  • Austin Energy’s Electric Vehicles and Emerging Technologies team received the Global Award for “the Ebikes are for EVeryone” project in 2023 at the 7th Annual Smart 50 Awards, honoring the top 50 most innovative smart city projects worldwide.
  • Austin Energy’s Residential Energy Efficiency Services team received the 2023 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year — Sustained Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, marking the sixth consecutive year and 17th overall recognition for the team.
  • Austin Energy’s Corporate Communications team won an Award of Excellence in Public Power Communications from the American Public Power Association for its base rate review video, recognized for making a complex subject more accessible to customers.
  • Austin Energy earned the RP3 Diamond Level designation from the American Public Power Association in 2022, the highest level awarded to public power utilities demonstrating excellence in reliability, safety, workforce development, and system improvements.

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Date last reviewed or modified: 05/16/2025