99.9% of Austin Energy customers have power; nearly 300 continue to deal with outages

A little over 300 Austin Energy customers are still without power as of Thursday morning. The utility company's turned the power back on for about 99.9% of all customers following last week's devastating ice storm that knocked power out for nearly a third of the company's customers.

The energy company said in a tweet Wednesday night it expects power to be turned back on for "nearly all" customers by next Sunday, Feb. 12, which matches what the company said earlier in the week. However, Austin Energy said they expect many customers who are still facing outages to have power "before Sunday."

In that same Twitter thread from Wednesday evening, the company said they were working on about 300 active outages affecting nearly 1,000 customers. Of those outages, they said nearly 60% affect single customers, while 30% affect anywhere from two to 24 customers.

As of Wednesday morning, the company's restored power to a total of 358,154 since last week's historic ice storm.

Customers with their own damaged equipment could be the ones whose power remains out past Feb. 12, the city said in a press release Monday morning.

"This estimation is based on the following factors: rate of restoration since the start of the storm, number of workers involved in the restoration process, a more complete damage assessment, and weather," a statement the city released Monday said.

Weather:35,000 remain without power. Here's what we know Sunday and this week's forecast

Sunday night, the company had appeared to backtrack from its statement just hours earlier when officials said they would give an estimated time of restoration in a tweet Sunday night, instead saying they could not provide a time when all restorations would be complete.

"Every outage has different conditions and we cannot currently provide estimated restoration times," the tweet said. "The weather could complicate efforts: Tuesday forecasts call for rain, thunderstorms and wind gusts are expected to reach up to 35 mph."

Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes also appeared confused about the tweet, asking if their statement from earlier had changed in a quote tweet.

Austin Energy also had to backtrack a statement after the utility company initially said Thursday morning they expected full restoration by 6 p.m. Friday. Later in the day, the company tweeted that they would be unable to provide a restoration time. Outages began Wednesday after the most significant round of ice during the winter storm hit, causing tree limbs to droop and snap.

During a Sunday press conference, Austin Energy general manager Jackie Sargent said their crews made significant progress overnight from Saturday into Sunday, for nearly 308,000 customers restored since the beginning of the historic weather event.

"Small outages in this environment can take just as much time and effort to restore as big outages," Austin Energy said in a statement Sunday. "Sometimes the only difference is how many customers we can get back online. A two-hour repair could restore power to 1,000 customers, or 10 customers, because of where the outage is on the circuit."

Restoring power to a single circuit can be a multi-day effort, a Saturday statement said. Some equipment is in hard-to-reach areas such as a greenbelt or buried under extremely heavy debris.

For example, a 500-foot steel communications tower crashed on a distribution line, four spans of wires and five power poles, city officials said.

"Repairing this site alone will take several days," the statement said.

Austin Energy crews will be knocking on some residents’ doors in order to access energy equipment in a backyard or a utility easement on a resident’s property. Austin Energy personnel will be clearly identifiable with badges and in Austin Energy vehicles.

As of Tuesday, four traffic signals remained dark due to ongoing power outages. The city said at its peak, 118 traffic signals went dark. Crews are continuing to test school zone signs on Tuesday, and the city warned that all posted school zones should continue to be treated as active during the mornings and afternoons whether the lights are flashing or not.

Residents still lacking power can request to stay in the City's emergency shelter by calling dial 3-1-1 or 512-974-2000 to request a stay. The Central Texas Food Bank will also host a drive Monday at the Delco Activity Center at 4601 Pecan Brook Drive, where the organization will pass out enough food for 500 families, the city said in a statement.

The thousands of Pedernales Electric Cooperative customers in Central Texas and the Hill Country who lost power during the storm have had it completely restored.

Winter weather:See the damage across Austin during winter storm

Austin was hit harder than other parts of the state by power outages, which Mitchell said is likely a result of two things: being in the "sweet spot" for heavy icing potential, along with the city's heavy tree canopy. He added that this is the city's most significant widespread outage event since the 2021 freeze which caused nearly 220,000 outages.

"This is remarkable even for us, winter storms are not uncommon, but winter storms of this particular set of characteristics is somewhat unique," he said.

More:Experts say, burying Austin Energy's existing power lines would be costly, difficult

Austin power outages reported Thursday

Here's a timeline of outages throughout Austin:

  • 6:50 a.m.: 99.9% of Austin Energy customers have power, with 317 still without power as a result of 138 active outages.

See map of Austin, Texas, power outages

What to do if you lose power

If you do lose power, follow this advice from Mitchell: don't panic, stay inside, keep all windows and doors closed, unplug major appliances and heaters, layer up, grab some blankets and wait for the power to be restored.

In addition, do not use stoves, ovens or portable grills to heat your home, as it can cause carbon monoxide poisoning that can result in hospitalization or death. If you have a generator, be sure it's in a well-ventilated area before using it.

More: Affected by the Austin Texas power outages? Here's what you can do to stay safe

While many in the region may be having flashbacks to Winter Storm Uri, which caused massive power outages for days, this storm is not predicted to be that bad, and Mitchell said power will be restored as the weather warms over the next 24 hours.

"We as utility understand those memories are still very fresh," Mitchell said. "This is not that. Our crews are in place, we are executing a plan, and we will safely and quickly restore power."

Also, he added that if you see a downed power line or branches caught up in power lines, to stay away and not touch them, as the wires could be live.

Meanwhile, as of 9:26 a.m. the electrical power grid reports that there is plenty of power and it is operating within normal conditions.

Austin power outages reported Wednesday

Here's a timeline of outages throughout Austin, Central Texas and the state:

  • 9:34 a.m.: 99.5% of Austin Energy customers have power, with 2,585 still without power as the result of 448 active outages.

Austin power outages reported Tuesday

Here's a timeline of outages throughout Austin, Central Texas and the state:

  • 6:06 a.m.: Over 98% of Austin Energy customers have power, as 614 active outages affect 8,906 customers.

Austin power outages reported Monday

Here's a timeline of outages throughout Austin, Central Texas and the state:

  • 9:53 a.m.: 25,000 customers remain without power as a result of 1,172 active outages. While just over 95% of all Austin Energy customers have power.

  • 6:22 a.m.: Almost 95% of customers have power, but over 27,000 are still without it as a result of 1,207 active outages

Austin power outages reported Saturday

Here's a timeline of outages throughout Austin, Central Texas and the state:

  • 8:12 p.m.: 10% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,625 active outage affecting roughly 53,611 customers.

  • 1:59 p.m.: 13% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,705 active outages affecting roughly 69,275 customers.

  • 9:26 a.m.: 14% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,630 active outages affecting roughly 76,121 customers.

Austin power outages reported Friday

Here's a timeline of outages throughout Austin, Central Texas and the state:

  • 4:49 p.m.: 22% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,769 active outages affecting roughly 108,000 customers.

  • 12:10 a.m.: 22% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,693 active outages affecting roughly 118,763 customers.

  • 8:26 a.m.: 23% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,612 active outages affecting roughly 123,183 customers.

Austin power outages reported Thursday

Here's a timeline of outages throughout Austin, Central Texas and the state:

  • 5:35 p.m.: 28% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,650 active outages affecting roughly 147,094 customers.

  • 3:00 p.m.: 29% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,562 active outages affecting roughly 152,340 customers.

  • 11:27 a.m.: 29% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,470 active outages affecting roughly 156,097 customers.

  • 8:19 a.m.: 28% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 1,215 active outages affecting roughly 153,147 customers.

  • As of 6 a.m., over 152,000 Austin Energy customers were without power, caused by 1,183 active outages affecting about 29% of customers.

Austin power outages reported all day Wednesday

Here's a timeline of outages throughout Austin, Central Texas and the state:

  • 6:00 p.m.: 28.7% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 876 active outages affecting roughly 155,850 customers.

  • 3:03 p.m.: 31.5% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 776 active outages affecting roughly 171,095 customers.

  • 1:47 p.m.: 29% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 734 active outages affecting roughly 160,869 customers.

  • 12:04 p.m.: 27% of Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 640 active outages affecting roughly 146,600 customers.

  • 10:30 a.m.: Nearly 146,000 Austin Energy customers are without power, caused by 549 active outages affecting nearly 27% of customers.

  • 8:45 a.m.: Oncor reports 16,127 customers in Williamson County, 6,446 in Travis County and 1,054 in Bastrop County are without power.

  • 8:10 a.m.: 125,000 customers are without power, as 422 active outages cause nearly 24% of Austin Energy customers to lose power. Meanwhile, nearly 3,100 Pedernales customers in Williamson and western Travis County are without power.

  • 7:40 a.m.: 21% of Austin Energy customers are without power as a result of 367 outages, affecting over 113,000. Nearly 11,000 Pedernales customers and over 240,000 across the state are also without power.

  • 6:36 a.m.: 294 active outages resulting in nearly 85,000 Austin Energy customers being without power. Across the region, over 6,000 Pedernales customers are without power, while 197,000 in the state don't have power.

  • 6:18 a.m.: Over 73,000 Austin Energy customers are without power as a result of 256 active outages affecting 86% of customers.

  • 6:00 a.m.: The number of Austin Energy customers without power continues to increase, as 204 outages are causing nearly 67,000 customers to be without power.

  • 5:50 a.m.: Across Texas, about 161,500 customers are without power.

  • 5:43 a.m.: Over 56,000 Austin Energy customers are without power due to nearly 190 outages across the region affecting 89% of customers.

  • 5:43 a.m.: Nearly 2,900 Pedernales customers from Round Rock to Kyle to San Marcos to Dripping Springs are without power.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 99.9% of Austin Energy customers have power; 300+ remain without