San Antonio City Council Approves CPS Energy's Multifaceted Strategic Plan To Protect Customers

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Mar 18, 2021, 16:46 ET

SAN ANTONIO, March 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CPS Energy continues to pursue all avenues to protect its customers from the excessive costs of 2021 Texas Winter Storm Uri. Today, the San Antonio City Council passed a resolution supporting CPS Energy's multifaceted strategic plan to keep customer bills affordable, while consistently pursuing prudent business practices that will further support the utility's continued financial strength and stability. CPS Energy's updated strategic plan includes options such as seeking federal and state financial and policy assistance; regulatory intervention; and other avenues, including negotiations. All of these avenues are being pursued and to date have included the legal action CPS Energy has taken against the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to prevent excessive purchased power charges to CPS Energy and its customers that relate directly to the winter event.

As a component of the plan, the San Antonio City Council has also approved an ordinance granting CPS Energy the authority to seek up to a $500 million line of credit to provide liquidity, if needed over the short-term, which will further support operations. The CPS Energy Board of Trustees previously approved this action on March 1, 2021. The utility will only utilize this line of credit when it is needed and, if utilized, the debt will have no negative financial impact on the City or customers' bills, and can be accommodated within CPS Energy's existing financial plan.

"The action taken by the City Council today supports the efforts of CPS Energy to protect its customers and provide the financial tools to keep our utility strong as it moves forward with challenging illegitimate charges," said Erik Walsh, San Antonio City Manager.

"While we are executing on our multifaceted plan to protect our customers, a primary focus remains on seeking federal and state financial and policy assistance for our community," said Paula Gold-Williams, President & CEO of CPS Energy. "We thank the City Council for their support, and we will continue to keep them, along with our community and our Board of Trustees informed about our progress in navigating through the continuing concerns about the 2021 Texas Winter Storm Uri, as well as if, and when, we need to access the new line of credit."

This line of credit, not to exceed $500 million, is money that a small, yet important group of financial institutions (i.e., banks), will agree to lend the utility. CPS Energy will only draw from the line of credit when it is needed to maintain operations. Securing this line of credit aligns with the utility's prudent actions and its long-standing financial strength. As always, CPS Energy will continue to pay all lawful and legitimate costs. In the meantime, CPS Energy will continue to challenge, within the provisions of the applicable agreements, the costs incurred during the winter event.

Previous updates about how CPS Energy is working to protect customers can be found here:

March 12, 2021 Update
March 5, 2021 Update
March 2, 2021 Update
CPS Energy and the Texas Electric Market

About CPS Energy
Established in 1860, CPS Energy is the nation's largest public power, natural gas, and electric company, providing safe, reliable, and competitively-priced service to 860,934 electric and 358,495 natural gas customers in San Antonio and portions of seven adjoining counties. Our customers' combined energy bills rank among the lowest of the nation's 20 largest cities – while generating $8 billion in revenue for the City of San Antonio for more than seven decades. As a trusted and strong community partner, we continuously focus on job creation, economic development, and educational investment. True to our People First philosophy, we are powered by our skilled workforce, whose commitment to the community is demonstrated through our employees' volunteerism in giving back to our city and programs aimed at bringing value to our customers. CPS Energy is among the top public power wind energy buyers in the nation and number one in Texas for solar generation.

SOURCE CPS Energy