Austinites in parts of downtown and West Campus should prepare for a planned overnight power outage this weekend as Austin Energy crews upgrade aging electrical infrastructure.
The utility said service is scheduled to be interrupted beginning at 11 p.m. Sunday and could last as long as six hours while crews replace equipment as part of its Repowering Downtown initiative. The project is an ongoing effort to modernize the city’s electric grid and increase capacity and resilience.
Austin Energy told KVUE the work will affect both residential and business customers across portions of downtown and West Campus near the University of Texas. Because of the complexity of the underground electrical network, outages may vary by location, with some buildings losing power while neighboring properties remain unaffected.
Austin Energy said power may cycle on and off during the maintenance window, and some customers could have service restored before the six-hour period ends.
Customers are encouraged to prepare for the outage by keeping refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible, unplugging sensitive electronics such as televisions and computers, and cooling their homes before the outage begins to help maintain indoor temperatures overnight.
Austin Energy has said similar planned outages are expected in other parts of the city later this year.
“There are additional outages in other parts of the city planned for the remainder of the year, and each one depends on the previous work being completed on schedule,” the utility said in the letter sent to residents and obtained by KVUE. “Collectively, all of this work is necessary to fulfill the Repowering Downtown effort.”