Austinites emerged Saturday from a nightmarish week of darkness, cold and thirst to survey the damage to their homes and take stock of supplies. Many, still left without water as an energy calamity turned into a water supply catastrophe, flocked to food banks for household essentials. From Fort Worth, two C-130 cargo planes — flying warehouses — were recording at least four flights of supplies across Texas. The utility's officials said they "want to stress to our customers that Austin Energy will not benefit financially in any way from this winter storm event." Austin Energy customers are charged only for the power consumed and will be charged at the existing rates as approved in the November 2020 rate tariff."
