SAN ANTONIO – Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to break up the energy sector in cities like San Antonio and Austin has brought up a more focused discussion about where some of that CPS Energy money is used.
The newly proposed legislation would make it illegal for a city-owned energy utility like CPS Energy to dominate the market.
A ripple effect of that could deeply affect the City of San Antonio’s budget.
The City of San Antonio and CPS Energy confirm 14% of the money collected from CPS Energy bills goes into the City of San Antonio’s budget.
“The law will prevent city utilities from charging consumers for unrelated costs, using your electricity payment to fund city budgets,” Abbott said.
A map of CPS Energy’s coverage area shows an inner section in green, representing customers within San Antonio city limits.
In blue are small cities in the San Antonio area like Windcrest, Alamo Heights, Castle Hills and Balcones Heights. The blue also includes all county areas.
CPS Energy customer Carl Duelm hosted the governor at his Northeast Side home on Tuesday, agreeing with his proposal.
“The money, it goes into a slush fund to where (the City of San Antonio) can disperse the money however they want,” Duelm said.
Even though Duelm does live in the City of San Antonio and benefits from those services, he still doesn’t agree with where the CPS Energy money ends up.
“I don’t think people should being paying into something they don’t even know what they’re paying into,” he said.
On Wednesday, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones was on KSAT and explained the money goes into the city’s general fund.
“That’s not a slush fund. Those are investments and things we pay for that contribute to the safety and health of our community,” Jones said.
She listed vital services the general fund fuels.
“That money is going to pay for cops and police. We pay for 2,400 meals for seniors. Every year that comes to about $3.3 million that we pay for those senior meals. Just in June, that contribution is just shy of $38 million. It would be a significant hit to our general fund to not have that source of income,” Jones said.
Jones said if the governor’s law passes, the city would have to bring in new revenue streams in a time when they’re already trying to tackle a future $158 million budget shortfall.
Abbott said Tuesday he has tried to pass this type of legislation before, but it never got enough votes.
If it passes this time, it could go into effect by May.
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