Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, May 11, 2026 ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION REGULAR CALLED MEETING MINUTES Monday, May 11, 2026 The Electric Utility Commission convened in a regular called meeting on Monday, May 11, 2026, at Austin Energy Headquarters, 4815 Mueller Blvd, Austin, TX 78723. Chair David Tuttle called the Electric Utility Commission meeting to order at 6:06 p.m. Commissioners in Attendance: Commissioner Dave Tuttle, Chair; Commissioner Al Braden, Vice Chair; Commissioner Lauren Bellomy; Commissioner Cesar Benavides; Commissioner Chris Gillett; Commissioner Chris Kirksey; Commissioner Cyrus Reed; and Commissioner Joshua Rhodes. Commissioners in Attendance Remotely: Commissioner Raul Alvarez; Commissioner Jonathon Blackburn; and Commissioner Kaiba White. Commissioners Absent: None Chair Tuttle clarified for the record that Joshua Rhodes continues to serve as an EUC member and is present, even though his name was not included on the agenda. PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL • Eileen McGinnis- local, natural gas-powered peaker generation units • Trey Salinas- OCI battery storage agreement, Invenergy wind facilities; local, natural gas-powered peaker generation units • Bob Hendricks- local, natural gas-powered peaker generation units • Matt Weldon- local, natural gas-powered peaker generation units • David Levesque- local, natural gas-powered peaker generation units • Jen Cregar- local, natural gas-powered peaker generation units APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approve the minutes of the Electric Utility Commission Regular Called Meeting on April 13, 2026. The motion approving the minutes of the Electric Utility Commission meeting on April 13, 2026, were approved on Commissioner Reed’s motion, Vice Chair Braden’s second on an 11-0 vote. ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, May 11, 2026 DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS 2. Recommend approval authorizing a contract for air compressor maintenance and repair services for Austin Energy with Capitol Bearing Service of Austin, Inc., for an initial term of one year with up to four one-year extension options in an amount not to exceed $1,578,705. Funding: $315,741 is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Energy. Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets. The motion to recommend approval authorizing a contract for air compressor maintenance and repair services for Austin Energy with Capitol Bearing Service of Austin, Inc., was recommended on Commissioner Gillett’s motion, Commissioner Kirksey’s second on an 11-0 vote. 3. Recommend approval authorizing a contract for TIBCO application integration software for Austin Energy with iBridge Group, Inc., for a term of three years in an amount not to exceed $3,000,000. Funding: $851,100 is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Energy. Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets. The motion to recommend approval authorizing a contract for TIBCO application integration software for Austin Energy with iBridge Group, Inc., was recommended on Commissioner Gillett’s motion, Commissioner Kirksey’s second on an 11-0 vote. 4. Recommend approval authorizing eleven contracts for critical electric utility supplies and equipment for Austin Energy with Apfelbaum Industrial Inc.; KBS Electrical Distributors Inc.; Kerec Co., Ltd.; Priester-Mell & Nicholson Inc.; PulseMac Solutions, LLC; Stuart C Irby Company d/b/a Stuart C Irby Co.; Sungjin Transformer Inc. d/b/a Sungjin Transformer; Taihan Electric USA Ltd.; Techline Inc.; Texas Electric Cooperatives; and Wesco Distribution, Inc., each for an initial term of two years with up to three one-year extension options in an amount not to exceed $200,000,000, divided among the contractors. Funding: $200,000,000 is available in the Capital Budget of Austin Energy. The motion to recommend approval authorizing eleven contracts for critical electric utility supplies and equipment for Austin Energy with Apfelbaum Industrial Inc.; KBS Electrical Distributors Inc.; Kerec Co., Ltd.; Priester-Mell & Nicholson Inc.; PulseMac Solutions, LLC; Stuart C Irby Company d/b/a Stuart C Irby Co.; Sungjin Transformer Inc. d/b/a Sungjin Transformer; Taihan Electric USA Ltd.; Techline Inc.; Texas Electric Cooperatives; and Wesco Distribution, Inc., was recommended on Commissioner Gillett’s motion, Commissioner Kirksey’s second on an 11-0 vote. 5. Recommend approval authorizing a contract for air insulated switchgears for Austin Energy with Priester-Mell & Nicholson Inc., for an initial term of two years with up to three one-year extension options for a total contract amount not to exceed $4,000,000. Funding: $4,000,000 is available in the Capital Budget of Austin Energy. The motion to recommend approval authorizing a contract for air insulated switchgears for Austin Energy with Priester-Mell & Nicholson Inc., was recommended on Commissioner Gillett’s motion, Commissioner Kirksey’s second on an 11-0 vote. 6. Recommend approval authorizing the negotiation and execution of a battery storage agreement with OCI Energy, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of OCI Enterprises Inc., for up to 100 megawatts of electrical power capacity from a utility-scale battery facility, in an estimated ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, May 11, 2026 amount of up to $8,250,000 per year, for a term up to 20 years, for a total estimated amount of up to $165,000,000. Funding: Funding is contingent upon budgetary approval in future budgets. The motion to recommend approval authorizing the negotiation and execution of a battery storage agreement with OCI Energy, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of OCI Enterprises Inc., was recommended on Commissioner Reed’s motion, Commissioner White’s second on an 11-0 vote. 7. Recommend approval authorizing the negotiation and execution of up to two power purchase agreements with Invenergy Renewables LLC, a subsidiary of Invenergy Renewables Holdings LLC, for a total of approximately 299 megawatts of electricity from two utility-scale wind facilities, in an estimated amount of $34,000,000 per year, for a term of 10 years, for a total estimated amount up to $340,000,000. Funding: $34,000,000 is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Energy. Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets. The motion to recommend approval authorizing the negotiation and execution of up to two power purchase agreements with Invenergy Renewables LLC, a subsidiary of Invenergy Renewables Holdings LLC, was recommended on Vice Chair Braden’s motion, Commissioner Rhodes’ second on an 11-0 vote. 8. Recommend approval authorizing the acquisition of a development permit from Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources (TNR) and the payment of the TNR permitting fees in an amount not to exceed $935,000. Funding: $935,000 is available in the Capital Budget of Austin Energy. The motion to recommend approval authorizing the acquisition of a development permit from Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources (TNR) and the payment of the TNR permitting fees, was recommended on Commissioner Gillett’s motion, Commissioner Kirksey’s second on an 11-0 vote. 9. Recommend approval authorizing a contract for power generation monitoring, maintenance, and support services for Austin Energy with Open Systems International Inc., for an initial term of three years with up to two one-year extension options in an amount not to exceed $1,355,000. Funding: $90,333 is available in the Operating Budget of Austin Energy. Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets. The motion to recommend approval authorizing a contract for power generation monitoring, maintenance, and support services for Austin Energy with Open Systems International Inc., was recommended on Commissioner Gillett’s motion, Commissioner Kirksey’s second on an 11-0 vote. 10. Recommend approval authorizing an amendment to the professional services agreement for engineering services for the 2016 Large Scale General Civil Engineering Services Rotation List with Walker Partners, LLC, in the amount of $6,000,000, for a revised total contract amount not to exceed $21,600,000.00. Funding: $6,000,000 is available in the Capital Budget of Austin Energy. The motion to recommend approval authorizing an amendment to the professional services agreement for engineering services for the 2016 Large Scale General Civil Engineering Services Rotation List with Walker Partners, LLC, was recommended on Commissioner Gillett’s motion, Commissioner Kirksey’s second on an 11-0 vote. ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, May 11, 2026 11. Recommend approval authorizing a contract to replace condenser water pumps for Austin Energy with Flintco, LLC, in an amount not to exceed $5,028,323. Funding: $5,028,323 is available in the Capital Budget of Austin Energy. The motion to recommend approval authorizing a contract to replace condenser water pumps for Austin Energy with Flintco, LLC, was recommended on Commissioner Gillett’s motion, Commissioner Kirksey’s second on an 11-0 vote. 12. Recommend approval implementing of Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035 for the addition of efficient, local, natural gas-powered peaker generation units. The motion to recommend approval implementing of Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035 for the addition of efficient, local, natural gas-powered peaker generation units was recommended on Commissioner Kirksey’s motion, Commissioner Bellomy’s second on an 8-3 vote with Vice Chair Braden and Commissioners Reed and White voting against. STAFF BRIEFINGS 13. Staff briefing on Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035 Implementation by Lisa Martin, Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer and Lynda Rife, Senior Strategic Advisor – Rifeline. The staff briefing on Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035 Implementation was presented by Lisa Martin, Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer and Lynda Rife, Senior Strategic Advisor – Rifeline. 14. Staff briefing on the Austin Energy FY27 Forecast by John Davis, Interim Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The staff briefing on the Austin Energy FY27 Forecast was presented by John Davis, Interim Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. 15. Staff Briefing on the Second Quarter Financial Report by John Davis, Interim Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The staff briefing on the Second Quarter Financial Report was presented by John Davis, Interim Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. 16. Staff briefing on the Second Quarter Operations Report by Lisa Martin, Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer. The staff briefing on the Second Quarter Operations Report was presented by Lisa Martin, Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS 17. Discussion and possible action on a recommendation to conduct full economic modeling of any additional gas peaker units, battery storage, solar, energy management solutions, and other options that could be placed in service by or before 2030, with results presented to the Electric ELECTRIC UTILITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, May 11, 2026 Utility Commission and Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee for review and discussion prior to any financial commitments. (Sponsors: Braden, Reed, White) Vice Chair Braden delivered a presentation, and the commission discussed the recommendation to conduct full economic modeling of any additional gas peaker units, battery storage, solar, energy management solutions, and other options that could be placed in service by or before 2030. Vice Chair Braden withdrew the item and no action was taken. 18. Discussion and possible action on a recommendation to require a separate public meeting on any rate increase proposed for FY2027 and to initiate a rate case process with FY2026 as the test year. (Sponsors: Reed, White) Commissioner Reed withdrew the item and requested that it be put on the June 8, 2026, agenda. 19. Approve the creation of a working group focused on longer duration storage and its role in Austin Energy’s Resource and Generation Plan. (Sponsors: Tuttle, Braden) Chair Tuttle delivered a presentation. The motion approving the creation of a working group focused on longer duration storage and its role in Austin Energy's Resource and Generation Plan was approved on Chair Tuttle’s motion, Vice Chair Braden’s second on a 10-0 vote with Commissioner White off the dais. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS • Item 18, Discussion and possible action on a recommendation to require a separate public meeting on any rate increase proposed for FY2027 and to initiate a rate case process with FY2026 as the test year. ADJOURNMENT Chair Tuttle adjourned the meeting at 10:04 p.m. without objection. The meeting minutes were approved at the July 20, 2026, meeting on Commissioner Bellomy’s motion, Commissioner Gillett’s second on a 6-0 vote, with Commissioners Alvarez, Benavides, and White off the dais, Commissioner Blackburn absent, and one vacancy.