About

As a community-owned utility, CPS Energy is committed to supporting individuals and families who may need bill assistance this holiday season. With over 82,000 customers enrolled in payment plans, CPS Energy continues to provide programs designed to ease the burden of utility bills.

 CPS Energy offers around 13 different billing assistance programs. The holidays can be a stressful time for many, and these programs are here to help customers navigate financial challenges.

The Affordability Discount Program (ADP)

ADP offers low-income customers a monthly discount on electric and gas services. To qualify for this program, your household income must be at or below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines, and you must meet one of the following requirements:

• Be 60 years old or older.
• Have a disability.
• Use life-sustaining medical equipment.
• Have pre-school aged children or school children age 18 and under.
• Have extenuating circumstances as determined by CPS Energy or the City of San Antonio.

For more details on how to apply, visit the ADP webpage.

Budget Payment Plan

The Budget Payment Plan helps balance out energy costs by averaging your annual bill and dividing it into equal monthly payments. Your account will be periodically reviewed for any necessary updates based on environmental factors, changing fuel costs, and usage.

Nearly 35,000 CPS Energy residential customers use the Budget Payment Plan. For more information, visit the Budget Payment Plan webpage here.

In addition, customers who need help managing past-due balances can apply for a modified budget payment plan. This plan breaks past-due amounts into manageable installments, which are added to the monthly Budget Payment Plan payments. To apply, simply log into your CPS Energy account.

Residential Energy Assistance Partnership (REAP)

Established in 2002, REAP is a partnership between CPS Energy, the City of San Antonio, and Bexar County. CPS Energy contributes $1 million annually to the REAP fund and raises additional funds throughout the year to help those in need. Earlier this year, the CPS Energy Board of Trustees approved the expansion of REAP to offer billing support for more customers. As part of this expansion, the utility also made a one-time $6 million contribution from the utility’s summer 2023 wholesale revenues.

You may qualify for REAP assistance if:

• Your household income is at or below 150% of federal poverty guidelines.
• You live in San Antonio or Bexar County.
• You meet at least one of the following: are 60 years or older, disabled, have children under age 16 living in your home, or require critical-care equipment.

To learn more, visit the REAP webpage.

Are you looking for a way to give back this holiday season?

Last year, CPS Energy updated its Energy Angel program. This program allows you to make a difference by donating anonymously to a CPS Energy account holder to help them with a payment toward their bill. You can make a one-time donation to the general Energy Angels fund, which helps those who may not qualify for REAP. Alternatively, you can make a direct donation to a specific individual by providing two of the following details:

• Address of the recipient
• Phone number of the recipient
• CPS Energy account number of the recipient

In addition to these programs, CPS Energy offers assistance for critical care customers, disabled citizens, senior citizens, veterans, and first responders. Visit the payment and assistance webpage for a complete list of available programs.  

How to get help

Assistance programs can make a meaningful difference to families in need. If you or someone you know needs assistance this holiday season, call CPS Energy at (210) 353-2222. Energy Advisors are ready to answer questions on assistance programs and offer resources to help customers.

Battery energy storage capacity under contract for CPS Energy exceeds 500 MW

December 6, 2024 (SAN ANTONIO) – CPS Energy, the largest municipally owned electric and natural gas utility in the United States, has entered into a long-term storage capacity agreement (SCA) with OCI Energy for a 120 megawatt (MW) – 480 megawatt-hour (MWh) – battery energy storage project called “Alamo City ESS LLC” which will be located in southern Bexar County, Texas.

Additionally, as part of a related community benefits agreement, OCI Energy will contribute $250,000 to the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). OCI Energy will work with UTSA to establish educational initiatives tied to the $250,000 contribution.

This four-hour duration battery storage project will be newly constructed and is expected to be online in late 2026, serving the energy needs of the San Antonio community for a 20-year period. Four-hour duration means the amount of time the battery storage project can discharge at its full power capacity (120 MW) before entirely depleting its stored energy. The addition of this 120 MW project is a continuation of the utility's execution of its Vision 2027 generation plan and brings CPS Energy's battery storage under contract to 520 MW.

 “Our community is growing at an exponential rate, and we have been focused on our Vision 2027 strategy to meet this growth,” said Rudy D. Garza, President & CEO of CPS Energy. “I'm proud of our team for delivering on our commitment to increase energy capacity for our growing community. Every megawatt that we can provide our customers counts.”

“As a San Antonio-based company, we are thrilled to build on our successful, and more than a decade-long collaboration with CPS Energy, said Sabah Bayatli, President of OCI Energy. “Together, we've delivered multiple utility-scale solar projects to Texas's power grid, paving the way for renewable energy in San Antonio and across Texas. Now, we're embarking on an exciting new chapter—introducing large-scale battery energy storage to San Antonio to help secure reliable and sustainable power for our community today and for generations to come.”

 “This agreement is another important step toward a future focused on reliability, sustainability, and clean energy,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “This battery storage project continues the productive relationship between CPS Energy and OCI Energy that has helped our community become a national leader in the renewable solar power industry and preparing for the energy landscape of the future.”  

In January 2023, the CPS Energy Board of Trustees approved a generation plan as part of the utility's Vision 2027 strategy to power the community into the future. CPS Energy has since added 1,710 MW of owned natural gas generation, 500 MW of natural gas firming capacity, an additional 84 MW of wind capacity, and contracted 730 MW of solar energy.

The utility increased energy reserves, added more smart technology, weatherized plants, and conducted tree-trimming for more reliable and resilient operations.   

December 2, 2024 (SAN ANTONIO) – CPS Energy has completed winter readiness and preparations for the upcoming winter season. The utility conducted unit maintenance and increased energy reserves, bringing CPS Energy's total energy reserves to 8,178 megawatts (MW). This energy supply is enough to meet the power demands of over 2 million homes and more than enough to cover the record-breaking energy peak demand experienced in January 2024.   

The utility also increased advanced technology, such as smart switches, to improve grid reliability. The technology supports early fault detection, limits the number of customers impacted by outages, and improves restoration times. CPS Energy installed over 1,200 intelligent switches (reclosers) operating throughout the service area. The utility also conducted inventory checks to ensure sufficient materials are available for emergencies.  

As part of reliability and resiliency, the utility added more infrastructure insulation, permanent enclosures, and heat tracing to the piping systems to improve the units' performance, as required by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). CPS Energy also upgraded freeze protection to heating systems and insulated tanks to store the fuel oil needed to operate some units. These additional efforts are redundancy measures to improve infrastructure resilience.  

CPS Energy also continues to invest in tree-trimming efforts. Trees touching lines due to freezing rains are among the most common causes of electrical service disruption in the winter. As part of the overall outage reduction efforts, CPS Energy invested $20.6 million in tree trimming for the fiscal year 2025—the highest level of investment since 2022. The utility allocated additional emergency tree-trimming funds for this winter season.  

For its gas operations, the utility contacted natural gas suppliers to confirm they had also completed their weatherization efforts.  

In compliance with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) winter readiness efforts, CPS Energy certified that winter preparedness activities were completed by December 1, 2024. CPS Energy submitted the required Declaration of Preparedness for winter weatherization to ERCOT for the utility's transmission systems and power plants.   

CPS Energy encourages customers to update their emergency contact information by calling 210-353-2222. CPS Energy has created winter preparation pages in English at  cpsenergy.com/winter and Spanish at  cpsenergy.com/invierno where customers can also sign up for emergency alerts. For additional winter energy savings tips, visit  cpsenergy.com/ConserveandSave .   

To learn more about CPS Energy's winter preparedness efforts, visit the presentation on winter readiness to CPS Energy's Board of Trustees here .