Austin announces Electric System Resiliency Plan

The utility’s data-driven efforts will target investments where they will make the biggest impact. The goal is to help as many people as quickly as possible, emphasising vegetation management and wildfire mitigation.

Austin Energy’s ESRP priorities in 2026 include: 

• Expand the circuit hardening programme to 10 circuits (circuit hardening is upgrading existing overhead lines with more robust equipment – reclosers and fuses – and better technology to withstand damage and be more reliable)
• Proactively replace 40 segments of underground cable
• Begin wildfire circuit hardening and apply it to 10 circuits in high wildfire risk areas
• Align vegetation management with risk and hardening efforts
• Inspect 8,000 poles
• Deploy 30 main line reclosers and 100 lateral reclosers in strategic locations (a recloser is an automatic switch on power lines that detects faults, briefly cuts power to clear temporary issues – like a branch falling) and then automatically recloses to restore power, significantly reducing outage time
• Conduct circuit optimisation studies.

The ESRP is a strategy to strengthen Austin Energy’s infrastructure and better serve the community. As challenges and changes evolve, so will the plan – ensuring targeted upgrades and continued reliability.