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Winter weather preparation by Austin Energy
Austin Energy wants to reassure Austinites, including the medically vulnerable, that they are prepared for what winter has in store for Central Texas.
AUSTIN, Texas - As we’re approaching winter, Austin Energy wants to reassure Austinites they’re ready to handle whatever Mother Nature has to throw at them.
"There's been a lot of lessons learned over the last few storms. And so a lot of the things that we have in place now," says Ronnie Mendoza with Austin Energy.
Last winter, a storm left thousands of Austinites without power for almost 2 weeks, including medically vulnerable customers.
"A lot of the things that we have in place now, for instance, instant meter notifications, when the meter electricity goes out at a medically vulnerable home, we get notified immediately," says Mendoza.
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Winter storms aren’t in our near forecast, but Mendoza says if you or someone in your household have a medical condition that could be life-threatening, you may qualify for the medically vulnerable registry.
"When we talk about unplanned outages, we talk about those examples of a squirrel or a snake or something getting into our lines and causing a power outage or, you know, a car hits a pole that has one of our transformers on it. There's a lot of things that can happen in an unplanned situation," said Mendoza.
Mendoza says it’s important for Austin Energy customers to keep their contact information up to date, so they can help you, in the case of an emergency.
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"We're in touch with those customers and we're getting them to if they need to get to a hospital, we coordinate those types of events. So that is and we also help them in when they're struggling to pay their utility bills because with medical equipment and medical conditions, a lot of people's money goes to that," said Mendoza.
Mendoza says the best way the community can help Austin Energy this winter season is to stay weather aware.
"We’re asking everybody whether you're on the medically vulnerable registry program or you are just a citizen in the city of Austin or in customer Austin energy is to go to our website and get the information that it that we're recommending for you to be prepared for these types of events," said Mendoza.