Power restored to 7,000 East Austin customers after 4-hour outage

Power Outage Affects Over 7,000 East Austin Residents on Hottest Day

A power outage affecting more than 7,000 East Austin customers was resolved around 9 p.m. Wednesday, according to Austin Energy spokesperson Matt Mitchell.

The outage started just before 5 p.m., when temperatures soared to 107 degrees. Areas east of Interstate 35 to as far west as Airport Boulevard were impacted, stretching from South Lakeshore Boulevard in the south to East 11th Street in the north.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson stated on X that Austin Energy officials had confirmed the outage was due to "high energy usage causing substation equipment to trip offline."

Mitchell confirmed this to the American-Statesman. The agency had earlier denied any links to statewide grid issues, which are managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

Due to the outage, the city extended the operating hours of its cooling centers. Those at the Parque Zaragoza Recreation Center and the Pan Am Recreation Center remained open until 11 p.m., Mitchell said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.