LIVE: Austin Energy 'cautiously optimistic' about work to restore full power as city considers disaster declaration
"Today, however, we are cautiously optimistic that we have turned a point overnight," Jackie Sargent with Austin Energy said at a news conference Friday.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — With warming temperatures melting off ice from trees and utility lines, the leader of Austin Energy said she's "cautiously optimistic" Friday morning that work to restore power would move more quickly now.
Jackie Sargent, the general manager of Austin Energy, said icing caused extensive damage that keeps complicating efforts to fully restore electricity for customers.
"Today, however, we are cautiously optimistic that we have turned a point overnight," Sargent said at a news conference Friday. "As reflected on our outage map, the number of customers affected has begun to come down because our restoration numbers are going up, while the number of repeated outages is going down. Fewer trees are falling, which means repeated outages have slowed down."
She said she still could not offer a specific timeline on when power would come back for all affected customers.
During the same news conference Friday, Travis County Judge Andy Brown said he would make decision soon whether he would sign an ice storm disaster declaration for the area.
Mayor issues apology
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said Friday he'd like to apologize to the community for the city's failures to communicate about its response to this week's ice storm. He also promised to review what happened and bring about change, but it's unclear how long that process will take.
"Providing clear and accurate and timely communication to the public is essential in an emergency like this, and once again the city hasn't delivered. This has been a persistent challenge over the past several years, and public frustration is absolutely warranted," Watson said Friday. "Over and over again, we see the same failure, so something will change. You will see that communication will be clear, frank and will happen in real-time using any and all available techniques going forward."
Thursday announcement: No restoration estimate
On Thursday, Austin Energy walked back its initial estimate of power restoration by Friday evening. Instead, it said it didn't feel confident in providing an estimate because of new information about the extent of the problems.
Officials said one of the reasons it's taking so long to restore power is that the trees and tree limbs keep falling on power lines after they were previously restored by Austin Energy crews. Since the ice started melting Thursday, tree branches are snapping after the thaw began, officials said.
"This is a dynamic situation and change is inevitable but Austin Energy must give folks clear and accurate info so they can plan accordingly," Mayor Kirk Watson tweeted Thursday afternoon. Council members Alison Alter and Vanessa Fuentes also called Thursday for a briefing next week on Austin Energy's storm response.
"The majority of the outages from this winter storm are complex involving heavy construction equipment in areas that are sometimes impassable due to downed trees and branches. As an added challenge, we’re also continuing to experience repeated outages meaning ice, trees and tree limbs continue to knock out power to the same circuits crews just restored," Austin Energy said, noting when it initially gave an estimate, it felt "fairly confident" about it, but new information led it to not put a specific time on it.
Mutual aid from other utilities has arrived to assist, according to an Austin Energy spokesperson.
Mayor Pro Tem Paige Ellis said in a tweet that she spoke with Austin Energy General Manager Jackie Sargent, who confirmed the utility has to prioritize outages by critical need, like fire and EMS stations along with hospitals.
Austin Energy said more than 100 crews worked to restore power. CenterPoint Energy crews will be in the area as soon as possible, Ellis said.