City of Austin's Affordable Energy Summit empowers community leaders to help neighbors in need

February 21, 2025

City of Austin Utilities will host its 16th Affordable Energy Summit at the Austin Marriott Downtown (304 E. Cesar Chavez St.) on Wednesday, Feb. 26 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. More than 150 community leaders, advocates and City partners who work to support families with limited incomes will be in attendance to share and learn best practices for educating and serving utility customers.

The City of Austin offers one of the most robust Customer Assistance Programs (CAP) in the country, providing relief to utility customers who are experiencing financial hardship. The CAP program offers vital support to our community’s most vulnerable residents who may struggle to pay their utility bills each month.

Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax will speak at 9:45 a.m. and and Austin Energy General Manager Bob Kahn will give special acknowledgements to kick off the 2025 summit.

The City’s commitment and ability to help make Austin more affordable is one of the many benefits of being a community-owned public utility. The Affordable Energy Summit offers a forum for community leaders and partners to discover more about the city’s customer assistance programs and support utility policies benefiting customers with limited incomes.

“We are excited to bring a state and national perspective on energy affordability to this year’s summit,” said Ronnie Mendoza, manager for customer assistance programming. “In addition, the breakout sessions will focus on how energy affordability intersects with health, housing and transportation.”

In fiscal year 2024, more than 64,000 customers qualified for the CAP Discount Program sponsored by Austin Energy, Austin Water and Watershed Protection. Total electric bill savings for recipients was approximately $21 million, with an additional $18 million for water, wastewater and drainage discounts.

For more information, visit coautilities.com/go/cap