Losing thousands - cancellations left and right due to Austin Energy

Member since 2023 · 29 posts · 11 votes

Unbelievable. And to think I just submitted/paid my Q4 quarterly STR taxes to the city and this is what I get in return? What options do I have here in terms of compensation? Sure, things happen and I can live with a black out here and there, but this is getting out of hand. There's no communication and no ETA coming from Austin Energy! Am I just supposed to accept a week, two weeks, a month in loss revenue? At what point do we sue the city / Austin Energy?

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Bruce WoodruffPro Member

Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes

Nope. They're a utility and a monopoly. Government protected. If you don't like it. Vote for conservative politicians that will fight for you.

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John UnderwoodPro Member
Investor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
3y
Are you saying you have no electricity?
2 Reply
Michael BaumPro Member
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
3y
So @Kevin McGovern for those of us that don't know anything about this, what is going on? Power outages? Rolling blackouts?
2 Reply
Collin HaysBusiness Member
Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
3y
I will take a wild guess here that you don't have a claim against the power company. Although you deserve it!
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Kevin McGovern
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Member since 2023 · 29 posts · 11 votes
3y
Apologies. I thought this was a local forum. The City of Austin, TX has been without power for three days now. Over a 100,000 without power. People are freezing. Austin Energy is not communicating progress or an ETA for our area. It's a total disaster.
https://www.kxan.com/news/loca...
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Bruce WoodruffPro Member
Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
3y
I think S**t just happens.....not much you can do. Utilities are a monopoly.
6 Reply
Kevin McGovern
OP
Member since 2023 · 29 posts · 11 votes
3y
@Bruce Woodruff Most circumstances I would agree with you. Going without power for 3 days and no end in sight is not acceptable. It's poor leadership and city planning that is to blame in my opinion. You would think the 2021 freeze would have an an eye opening lesson, but nothing has changed.
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Bruce WoodruffPro Member
Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
3y
Quote from @Kevin McGovern:

@Bruce Woodruff Most circumstances I would agree with you. Going without power for 3 days and no end in sight is not acceptable. It's poor leadership and city planning that is to blame in my opinion. You would think the 2021 freeze would have an an eye opening lesson, but nothing has changed.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with ya! But what are your rational alternatives? I see none.
1 Reply
Kevin McGovern
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Member since 2023 · 29 posts · 11 votes
3y
Right, that's why I am coming here to see if I have any options. I hold up my end of the deal with property taxes, STR city taxes and the actual energy bill, but they don't have to?
0 Reply
Michael BaumPro Member
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
3y
Hey @Kevin McGovern. So now that I have read the article I get it. Freezing rain ice storm.

So this happens pretty regularly here in Western WA. The freezing rain coat everything and trees get heavy. Branches and whole trees start toppling along with powerlines themselves getting coated and breaking.

We were out of power here during a serious ice storm for 11 days. Temps in the high 20's to low 30's. Nothing the power company could do but repair, repair, repair. More branches and trees keep falling, ruining the work they just finished and the power would go out again. Add to that, winds in the mid 30's to 50's and it is a recipe for disaster.
I was working on San Juan Island in WA when a huge ice storm came through. I was out cutting up 16" trees blocking the majority of roads in and out of town (Friday Harbor). There were over 1000 trees down and power was out for a month.

There is nothing you can do in this instance. The power company doesn't control the weather nor can it, with such widespread damage, give a realistic ETA. I am sure they are doing their best and you are going to have to suck it up. Here we had guys on poles having been up for 48+ hours without a break. We were taking hot coffee and whatever else we could find.

Our home is wired for a generator and we have one on standby ready to go. That could be an option for you if you expect this to become a regular thing.
11 Reply
Bruce WoodruffPro Member
Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
3y
Nope. They're a utility and a monopoly. Government protected. If you don't like it. Vote for conservative politicians that will fight for you.
13 Reply
Lisa Graesser
Rental Property Investor · The Villages, FL · Member since 2017 · 341 posts · 397 votes
3y
I live in Buffalo, NY, and luckily I do not have my STR's here. (They are in Florida and we have to deal with hurricanes.) We had record storms that we were not prepared to handle even with our snow history. Unpredictable weather happens, and it seem this will happen more often. The current weather in Austin is rare. There is only enough manpower to fix everything in a short period of time. Things happen, there is nothing you can do except prepare for the next time and get a generator.
1 Reply
Kevin McGovern
OP
Member since 2023 · 29 posts · 11 votes
3y
@Michael Baum Geez. 11 days? Aren't there protocols in place to help your city avoid this? How many went without power for 11 days? That is crazy. Sounds very similar to our situation.
Don't get me wrong. The technicians out there repairing equipment and climbing poles are real-life heroes. My frustration is with the city for not learning or doing anything after 2021. People died in 2021.. It was awful.
1 Reply
Kevin McGovern
OP
Member since 2023 · 29 posts · 11 votes
3y
For what it's worth. The surrounding cities and suburbs which are not tiny by any means still have power. The weather and vegetation was/is no different.
0 Reply
Michael BaumPro Member
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
3y
Yup @Kevin McGovern, we were one of the last to get power back. We sit in a weird little area of Olympia in town. Power goes out here 5-8 times a year. Most often for about 8-24 hours at the most. During that storm, nearly 400,000 people were out of power, most over 3 days. Some were out for over 3 weeks in the more rural areas.
I don't remember how many deaths, but I am sure it wasn't many. We live with colder weather here in general so we are more prepared for it. In north Idaho where I grew up, we could go for a couple of months without power. Wood stoves, generators, tractors clearing everything.
We were heading back up highway 97 in 2020 and came across a 38" thick Ponderosa Pine down across the highway. It is a 2 lane blacktop. Trucks pulled up, we pulled up. Out came the chainsaws and a bunch of us had that 130' pine cleared and stacked. Even cleared the power line before it broke.
Playing devils advocate here for the city, there isn't much they can do. They need to be proactive on trimming branches overhanging power lines, getting rid of dangerous trees etc. Other than that, it is pretty impossible to predict what is going to happen. No matter how much planning a city/county does, it can still end up on the short end of the stick.
The obvious solution would be to bury the powerlines, but the cost for that is astronomical.
1 Reply
Kevin McGovern
OP
Member since 2023 · 29 posts · 11 votes
3y
Oh my. Wow, sounds like you guys have a tight and prepared community. We're completely clueless over here. Yes, I read about burying lines, but like you said, the cost doesn't make it realistic.
0 Reply
Daniel Elmore
Member since 2023 · 1 post · 2 votes
3y
New here but have lived in several places that have had major power outages. Your best bet is get several generators and a few gas cans for each location and set them up as back ups. Extra but it will avoid outages and hopefully cancellations, don't bother complaining to the power company, they know the problem and approval for fixes takes years to get done.
2 Reply
Account Closed
Investor · Scottsdale Austin Tuktoyaktuk · Member since 2021 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
3y
Quote from @Kevin McGovern:

Apologies. I thought this was a local forum. The City of Austin, TX has been without power for three days now. Over a 100,000 without power. People are freezing. Austin Energy is not communicating progress or an ETA for our area. It's a total disaster.
https://www.kxan.com/news/loca...

Your commnet: "Austin Energy is not communicating progress or an ETA for our area."
They can't contact you. they can't turn on their phones or computers, No Power. ;-) Sorry, couldn't pass that on up.

It reminds me of the saying about AT&T when they were a monoply "We don't care, we don't have to".
2 Reply
Bill B.
Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 10k+ votes
3y
You’re in a great position. You can buy a whole home generator. Why is that great? Because unlike an owner occupant, you get to write it off your taxes, while adding value to your property, and generating increased income. It probably would have paid for itself just this year if you’re right about the number of cancellations and dollars lost.
9 Reply
Carlos Ptriawan
Member since 2019 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
3y
Quote from @Bill B.:

You’re in a great position. You can buy a whole home generator. Why is that great? Because unlike an owner occupant, you get to write it off your taxes, while adding value to your property, and generating increased income. It probably would have paid for itself just this year if you’re right about the number of cancellations and dollars lost.

someone with a solution.

people in a third-world country is so get used to the home generator because blackout is usually a monthly occurence.
go amazon.
1 Reply
James Hamling
Real Estate Broker · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 6k+ votes
3y
Quote from @Kevin McGovern:

Apologies. I thought this was a local forum. The City of Austin, TX has been without power for three days now. Over a 100,000 without power. People are freezing. Austin Energy is not communicating progress or an ETA for our area. It's a total disaster.
https://www.kxan.com/news/loca...

I am a bit confused how a major ice storm is the electric companies fault.
Or the tree limbs falling on lines.
If it's bad enough for a disaster declaration, yeah, I would expect some impact that is inconvenient. Like hurricanes in Florida, or blizzards in MN. It sucks but a person has to be realistic with expectations.
4 Reply
Eliott Elias
Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2021 · 9k+ posts · 5k+ votes
3y
Good luck, Austin could care less.
2 Reply
Danny Polanski
Chicago, IL · Member since 2020 · 184 posts · 182 votes
3y
Expecting the government or a greedy monopolized power company to have real world solutions is not realistic imo.
Time to come up with your own solutions, especially since the most recent, no power, freeze you guys just had last year

As mentioned, install a whole house generator and be done.
1 Reply
Matt Mertz
Leander TX · Member since 2020 · 179 posts · 150 votes
3y
If you're losing thousands on a 3 day electricity outage, then a propane powered backup generator would have great ROI for you. I'd protect your Austin based STR with this.
I live in Leander, TX and also experienced outages. I have a cabin in Gatlinburg TN that was affected by this winter's outage. My opinion is that a 1st world country should never experience outages due to weather events, but as hosts and business owners we should plan for it.
2 Reply
Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
Moderator
Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
3y
I went through an ice storm in Watertown, NY that cut off electricity for hundreds of thousands of customers. It lasted 3-4 days for most, with some going without electric for two weeks. A couple years later another storm hit that cut some people off for six weeks! And no offense, but the temperatures in Austin are nothing compared to what people deal with in upstate NY.

The power company doesn't control the weather. Do you realize they are losing money right along with you? Meters aren't turning, they are pushing out hundreds of employees and trucks, spending a ton on materials, etc. These weather events probably effect their bottom line more than it does yours.

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Adam Martin
Rental Property Investor · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
3y
While I am not usually in favor of solar for a rental this may be a partial solution to your problems with a battery wall. You could cut your utility bills even when they do have power and when the power is out you are one of the only games in town that has power and can ask whatever you want really for rates as long as you aren't already booked. I don't know a lot about your area but if this happens as often as your post makes it seem, this may be a viable option. As someone said about the whole house generator you would also get the tax breaks. I somehow doubt though that this would make financial sense but if you were looking to stick it to the power company this would be one less meter turning.
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