Austin Energy told the Electric Utility Commission on Oct. 20 that its expanded customer assistance (CAP) discount program is close to meeting the enrollment target set in a December 2022 City Council resolution, with roughly 500 households still needed to reach the goal of about 83,700 eligible enrollments.

The utility’s deputy general manager and chief customer officer, Carrie Overton, said the CAP expansion was launched after a council directive and that the program now delivers up to $1,400 in combined annual benefits per household when customers receive all city utility services. “That totality is about $38,000,000 a year,” Overton said in a presentation to commissioners, describing the mix of electric, water, wastewater and drainage discounts and related emergency assistance and arrears-management services.

The resolution that prompted the expansion directed Austin Energy to identify households at or below 200% of the federal poverty level and grow CAP enrollment over three years. Overton said CAP enrollment was about 32,000 households when the expansion began and that the program now is “only about 500 households away” from the multi‑year milestone. She told commissioners the utility used data matches with school districts and state HHS files and improved application automation and portal tools to expand enrollment.

Why it matters: the CAP program is the city’s largest direct‑assistance utility program and is intended to reduce the risk of disconnection and address household-level energy burden. Commissioners pressed staff for additional breakdowns so the effects on Austin Energy’s customers and on other city utilities are clearer.

Commissioner Cyrus asked how the program’s growth affected the budget; Overton replied that annual benefit spending rose from roughly $20 million in 2022 to about $38 million now and that the difference reflects adding about 50,000 additional households into the program. Commissioners asked for further, more granular follow-up: how many of the enrolled households are Austin Energy electric customers specifically, and how many receive only water or drainage discounts. Overton said she would provide a year-by-year customer count broken out by utility segment.

Staff described the CAP program as a “wraparound” set of services that combines a recurring discount with Plus‑1 emergency assistance, arrears management, weatherization referrals and targeted outreach through school partnerships. Overton said staff operate a dedicated CAP line so enrolled customers can reach specialists rather than the general customer service queue.

Commissioners and the interim general manager also discussed program integrity work: Overton said staff run quality‑control and eligibility analyses and partner with local stakeholders and nonprofits to refine enrollment and outreach. Several commissioners praised the utility staff and partners for meeting milestones while noting that continuing outreach and data transparency would help the program’s next phase.

The commission did not take formal action on the CAP briefing. Overton said she would follow up with the requested customer-count breakdowns for Austin Energy by year and by service type.

Quotes used in this article are drawn from the Oct. 20 EUC meeting transcript and are attributed to speakers appearing on the record.