Who We Are

Awards and Recognition

You Benefit from an Award-Winning Utility

As your publicly owned electric utility, Austin Energy innovates and regularly develops new approaches to meeting customer and community needs. You benefit from highly trained Austin Energy staff who proactively seek opportunities to make a difference, find new efficiencies, and offer you new ways to save and thrive.

We love when these efforts earn awards as organizations around the world see how we strive to power a cleaner, brighter future with customer driven and community focused solutions. That means we have a chance to let other communities know how to better help their utility customers, too.

Check out some of our recent awards, and how each one connects with helping Austin Energy customers:

  • Austin Energy won the American Public Power Association’s Smart Energy Provider award in both 2020 and 2021, which recognizes proficiency in energy efficiency and distributed generation for sustainable electric service.

  • Austin Energy received the 2020 and 2021 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year — Sustained Excellence Award for Energy Efficiency Program Delivery which includes operational as well as marketing and communications efforts to grow and promote residential energy efficiency programs for Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® and the Weatherization Assistance program.

  • Austin Energy won the Texas Public Power Association’s 2021 System Achievement Award for work to provide customers with bill assistance throughout the pandemic and after the winter storm.

  • Austin Energy earned a spot on the 2021 Utility Transformation Leaderboard and as a Top 10 Utility Leader for the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA).

  • Austin Energy won the Smart Cities Connect 2021 Smart 50 Award for launching a customer-driven initiative removing barriers to electric vehicle adoption by improving the consumer EV buying experience. This international award recognizes the EV Buyer’s Guide as well as the work to train auto dealer sales staff and install interactive digital kiosks at local dealers while working with car manufacturers to expand the local EV supply.

  • CS Week recognized Austin Energy in the 2021 Expanding Excellence Awards for the Innovation in Digital Customer Engagement Award, for Austin Energy’s work to improve the customer experience by expanding payment channel offerings to customers.

  • In 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy selected Austin Energy as a Proving Ground for Advanced Building Technology to pilot a new technology and incentive pilot for multifamily property customers, especially to help residents save on energy bills.

  • In 2021, Austin Energy won Chartwell’s Best Practices Gold Communications Award for the EV Buyer’s Guide and the work done to promote the guide since its 2019 launch to help customers learn more about electric vehicle availability and access in Austin.

  • Austin Energy won the American Public Power Association’s 2021 Excellence in Public Power Communications Award of Excellence for the Move Over, Slow Down video to protect utility workers.

  • Austin Energy won the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative’s 2021 Best Practices Consumer Engagement Award for improving the consumer EV buying experience through work that includes the EV Buyer’s Guide, auto dealership engagement, and car manufacturer engagement. Austin Energy’s residential solar education program also won an Honorable Mention in SECC’s Consumer Education award category.

  • The City of Austin won a 2021 National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors’ (NATOA) Award of Distinction for the 2020 Zilker Holiday Tree Lighting Virtual Ceremony. In addition, the program won First Place in the Texas Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (TATOA) 2021 Government Programming Awards for Partner Production and received the Kurt Ugland Programming Impact Award. Austin Energy contributed to making this a successful online event.

  • Austin Energy won Second Place in the 2021 TATOA Government Programming Awards for Profile of an Organization/Department with this winter storm coverage.

  • Austin Energy continued to rank in the National Renewable Energy Lab’s Top Ten Utility Green Pricing Program rankings in 2020 after multiple consecutive years in this top group due to customer subscriptions in Community Solar and GreenChoice® wind energy.

  • The City of Austin won Green Builder’s® 2020 Sustainable City of the Year-Large Municipality award, in part due to Austin Energy’s commitment to sustainability in electric vehicles, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and green building.

  • The City of Austin was the only city in this hemisphere to win the 2020 E-Visionary Award, granted by the Electric Drive Transportation Association and World Electric Vehicle Association for our transportation electrification leadership, including our work in expanding electric mobility and enhancing environmental sustainability across our region.

  • Austin Energy won the Positive Charge (Electrification) Award in Zpryme’s 2020 Utility Industry Spotlight Awards for outstanding electric vehicle programs, deployments, education programs and marketing campaigns in the City of Austin.

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Date last reviewed or modified: 01/11/2022