For thousands of Austin Energy customers, Wednesday marked the start of a full week of power outages. At the height of those outages, the utility reported upwards of 170,000 customers affected.
Over the past 24 hours, the number of outages has come down considerably. By early Tuesday morning there were still nearly 10,000 impacted customers, but by Wednesday it had fallen below the 3000 mark.
“More than 350,000 restorations have taken place since the onset of this event,” said Austin Energy General Manager Jackie Sargent.
The utility’s estimate for full restoration continues to be Sunday, February 12. However, most of the remaining outages are expected to be restored before that date.
Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk issued an apology Tuesday over the city’s response to last week’s ice storm.
“Once again, I offer my heartfelt apologies for any shortcomings in our response,” Cronk said. “I want you to know that I am committed to doing everything in my power to support our community. As we weather this storm and those to come, we will be stronger together.”
On Thursday, the Austin City Council will meet for a closed-door discussion to evaluate Cronk’s job performance.
