Audit: Austin Energy didn’t check eligibility for some in bill discount program
by: David Barer, Tahera Rahman
Feb 23, 2022
AUSTIN (KXAN) – City auditors found Austin Energy did not ensure more than two dozen customers were eligible to receive utility discounts through the city’s Customer Assistance Program, which is meant to serve low-income residents, according to a recently released special report.
Robbins, a local environmental activist and city utility critic, has been critical of the CAP program for years and has written reports about what he describes as flawed eligibility criteria.
“I’m very disappointed in Austin Energy and the way they are running the program,” Robbins said. “Their business model is how much money can you give away, not how much money can you give away to people that are deserving of the assistance.”
“There could be 1000s of people that are undeserving that make over 200% of poverty that are getting poor people’s money.”
