The Austin City Council could finally take action June 7 on a new Austin Energy rate plan after months of debate and revision.
Council agreed during recent work sessions on a five-tier plan based on energy usage charging between 3.5 cents and 11.4 cents per kilowatt per hour, and reducing the proposed residential fixed rate from $22 to $10.
At a June 5 work session, Mayor Lee Leffingwell requested the rate differential between tiers two and five would be no more than 15 percent.
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.
