On May 1, the City of Austin released the audit report for Austin Energy, which is overall supportive of the utility's reported revenue requirements in conjunction with its rate increase plan.

On Feb. 22, City Council directed City Auditor Ken Mory to review the proposed revenue requirements in the wake of controversy surrounding an increase in rates for the first time in 17 years.

AE said in September that a $131 million shortfall necessitated a 12.5 percent system-wide rate increase, which the city-owned utility modified in February to occur in two phases in 2012 and 2014.

Public reaction to the plan has been overwhelmingly negative. In part, there has been skepticism of the reported revenue requirements and the subsequent high rate increases.

According to the report, the fiscal year 2009 data used to calculate the needed rate increase is materially accurate, with one exception relating to capital from current revenue that does not impact the proposed revenue requirements.

Further, the auditor's office tested 17 of the 33 revenue requirement adjustments AE made to its rate and revenue analysis report presented to council in December, which accounts for 92 percent of the total value of the adjustments.

Results indicate that 10 of the adjustments are reasonable, while two are not reasonable when compared to budget and expenditures documented after FY 2009. The remaining five were unable to be verified as the newly developed software used to calculate the results has yet to be tested for reliability.

Council members are slated to vote on a final rate increase solution at their May 24 meeting, set for 10 a.m. at City Hall, 301 W. Second St.