CPS Energy Board of Trustees Approves Generation Planning Portfolio

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 24, 2023

The Board of Trustees for Texas public power utility CPS Energy on Jan. 23 voted to approve a generation planning portfolio that includes a blend of gas, solar, wind and energy storage.

The generation planning process considered replacing aging plants and the continued use of coal while meeting the city’s climate goals, maintaining reliability and remaining competitively priced.

The board’s decision followed input from the community and a Rate Advisory Committee. At the direction of the Board, the RAC spent the last year reviewing the utility’s current power generation resources and future options in meetings with San Antonio-based CPS Energy and consultants.

The RAC is made up of 21 members comprised of 11 appointees by the CPS Energy Board of Trustees, including Mayoral appointees and 10 City Council appointees. 

CPS Energy also held a series of community engagement efforts, among which included open houses, a virtual town hall and customer survey. 

Final survey results indicated the following customer consideration preferences:

• System reliability & climate resiliency: CPS Energy’s ability to consistently deliver electrical power to a home or business, including during extreme weather events – 29%
• Affordability: A customer’s ability to pay for monthly electric services – 26%
• Environmental sustainability: The environmental impact of the CPS Energy generation mix – 14%
• System Flexibility: A planning objective to diversify the generation mix to support CPS Energy’s ability to respond to changing conditions – 15%
• CPS Energy Financial Stability: Services to customers are provided at a rate that consistently generates enough revenue to meet CPS Energy’s expenses – 9%
• CPS Energy workforce impact: CPS Energy employees impacted by power plant closure or the additional employees needed for a planned new power plant – 4%
• Other – 3%