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Austin’s energy market is regulated. Other Central Texas cities’ markets aren’t. A look at the impacts on public health.
This month, 1.5 million Texas high schoolers went back to the classrooms, and a harsh reality is not all of them will graduate. The GED plays an important role in offering people a second chance and economic mobility.
College football is back in full swing this weekend, and if you’re planning a tailgate or a party, you’re gonna need the music to bring the energy. We’ve got the best songs of August from our buddies over at KUTX.
Austin Signal is made possible by listeners like you. You can support our work by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org
The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano The cost of energy for the average Texan is on the rise more than other states in the country. And that cost goes beyond mere finances. For many Texans, it’s a matter of staying alive. Why prices are surging and what might be done about it. And one and a half million Texan high schoolers went back to classrooms this month. And the hard truth of it is that not all of them will earn their degree while they’re there. Those who don’t could look to earn a GED in the future. We’ve got more about that coming up on today’s show.
Laurie Gallardo The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano College football is back in full swing this weekend, and if you’re planning a tailgate, you’re gonna need the music to bring that energy. We’ve got the best songs of Austin, excuse me, of Austin from August from our buddies over at KUTX. We’ve that and a whole lot more. It’s up next right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, this is Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Keconnell. It is Monday, the 31st and final day of August. Thank you for being here with us. We are still in crank the AC season and that means electricity bills can get expensive quickly. But it’s not just a seasonal trend. Energy costs overall are up in Texas and are rising faster than in other states. That’s according to data from the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute. A nonprofit advocating for affordable energy solutions. For some Texans, those higher electricity bills are eating up more and more room in their monthly budgets, sometimes at the cost of their health. Joining me now is Robin Burgess, who reported on rising energy costs for Public Health Watch. Robin, welcome to the show.
Robin Burgess Thank you for having me.
Jerry Quijano So here in Austin, we have a public utility, Austin Energy, but much of the state utilizes a deregulated energy market. Can you explain how that works and why the market is set up that way?
Robin Burgess Yeah, so if you jump back to 1999, there was a bill, Senate Bill 7, that was signed into law and that laid the groundwork for the Texas deregulated energy market. And so large investor-owned utility monopolies were split up into separate companies and they perform different functions. So there are power generators that produce electricity from different sources like coal, natural gas, wind, solar, nuclear. There are transmission and distribution utilities that move power over wires through the state. And then there are also retail electric providers that sell electricity to customers. So Texans who live in the competitive market can shop for their electricity. But we also have municipally owned utilities throughout our state that weren’t broken up. So for example, Austin Energy, a city owned. It owns and operates the power generators, the transmission and distribution lines and sells electricity to customers. So people who live in Austin don’t shop for their electricity, they’re Austin energy customers. Yeah, and deregulation and when it was introduced, it was pitched as a way to increase competition and help lower electricity costs and drive clean energy to the market. And we saw that part of that plan worked. Texas leads the nation in wind production. It’s second to California and solar. And it was competition along with renewable policies and federal incentives that fostered that growth. But what we’ve seen is that many Texans haven’t seen the cost savings on their bills and some actually pay a lot more in those competitive markets.
Jerry Quijano We’re gonna have a link to your story in today’s podcast show notes. In it, a couple of folks are featured from Hutto. That’s about a 30 minute drive from us. What’s the energy provider situation in Hutto?
Robin Burgess Yes, that’s a great question. So that is a competitive market where people shop for their energy. And I spoke with a family in Huddo who, they were shocked. They got a bill for $545 in May. And that was about double what they had been paying in cooler months. And they’re struggling because one of their family members has a rare heart disease. She needs air conditioning because her heart beats really fast. Heat makes that heart beat faster. And so they’re struggling to pay their bills because it’s so expensive. And they contacted their provider there with Chariot Energy to see if they could get a deal. But that provider told them they don’t offer any discounts not even for like lower income, elderly, disabled or military customers. And what we’re seeing is that it’s different. We’ve talked to folks who are with you municipally owned utilities like Austin Energy. And Austin Energy actually offers discounts for people that are in lower income households. So a lot of people that we’ve been talking and had to have been struggling, there’s another woman who has lupus, an autoimmune disease that attacks her joints and muscles. Her pain is really debilitating. She can’t work and heat exacerbates her pain so she needs AC. Her bill was $460. That’s… About 25% of her monthly income that she receives from social security disability benefits. And we’ve learned that energy costs that exceed 6% of a household’s income are considered unaffordable. So for someone like her, she actually was able to get federal support from the low income home energy assistance program called LIHEAP to help pay her electricity bill. But the stipend that she received has been cut in half so she’s struggling. And that federal money is limited. You know, most households who receive LIHEAP funding make under $20,000 a year. And only one in 40 techs and households that qualify for it received that support in 2024. And our state doesn’t have a similar funding source like LIHEA.
Jerry Quijano So can you tell us what are some of the health implications of these high electricity bills and Texans high power shutoff rates?
Robin Burgess Yeah, I mean, I talked to public health experts about that. When it’s expensive, people cut back on food. They cut back their air conditioning. That’s really dangerous in Texas because of the extreme heat. That can be deadly. So we saw when Hurricane Barrel made landfall a couple of years ago, about three million Texans lost their power for several days. At least 36 people died. Um, and that’s. You know, across the state, people are struggling. Our state actually leads the nation in disconnections for non-payment. More than three million households had their electricity shut off in 2024. So those are big problems. Texans need more affordable electricity bills.
Jerry Quijano We were talking about the problems that exist here. What about some solutions looking forward? What did you hear from the people that you spoke with?
Robin Burgess Yes, so I spoke with experts who said that there are solutions to help Texans who are struggling. And they broke it down and said there are three kinds of solutions they offer, investing in energy efficiency, direct financial support and accountability. So they said a lot of Texans live in old homes that are expensive to heat and cool. And if the state were to appropriate funding to help Texas weatherize their homes, that could really help. Um, and one example is, you know, I talked to a woman who lives in San Antonio and her public utility, CPS energy, they, they provided her with rebates so she could weatherize her home. And so they sealed air leaks, installed attic insulation, solar screens to block the sun. They replaced her inefficient bulbs with led versions. And after all those upgrades, she said her electricity bill dropped by about $75 per month. And so, you know, what experts have said is that… You know, if the state were to appropriate funds to help more Texans weatherize their homes, that could reduce families bills, but also when the demand is decreased for electricity on the grid, that helps lower energy costs for everyone. You know I also spoke with state Senator Molly Cook from Houston, and she said Texas could consider adopting payment plans based on a percentage of rate payers’ incomes. And so at least 10 other US states have these plans for lower income families. Which cap their bills to a percentage of their income that they can afford to pay. So those plans could provide longer term financial stability. Other experts suggest addressing conflicts of interest for lawmakers and heads of agencies who make decisions that affect or directly regulate the oil and gas and electric industries, like suggesting triggers for accusals and stricter campaign contribution rules.
Jerry Quijano Your reporting is very thorough and it’s actually the first story in a series called Powerless. What else are you and the team you’re working with looking into?
Robin Burgess Oh, thanks for asking. Yeah, we think this is an important issue. And so my colleagues at Public Health Watch are following other Texans across the state, in Houston and the Rio Grande Valley to write really personal stories about how folks are struggling, how folks, you know, are coping, and also potential solutions to avoid and to mitigate this public health crisis.
Jerry Quijano Okay, we have been speaking with Robin Burgis and we’re gonna have a link to her reporting for Public Health Watch in today’s show notes. Robin, thank you for your time.
Robin Burgess Thank you for speaking with me, I really appreciate it.
Jerry Quijano Over a million and a half students started class at public high schools in Texas this month, but the reality is that not all of them will graduate. For those who drop out, the GED can be a stepping stone to higher education or perhaps better job prospects. Texas Standards’ Sarah Asch decided to dig into the history of the test and what it takes to pass it, and she started by taking it herself.
Sarah Asch 2.75 times 1.2. Okay, so what’s 0.2 of 7, 5?
Sarah Asch The GED exam has four parts. Mathematical reasoning, reasoning through language arts, science, and social studies.
Sarah Asch I have to remember how to carry the one.
Sarah Asch When I sat down at an unfamiliar desktop computer to test my own high school knowledge, I used the practice tests. After standing in the back of many GED classes with my microphone, trying to remember math, I wanted to see if I could pass all four sections. Lindsay Harrison Aggie, the Vice President of Adult Education at the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, helped oversee my test. She says the GED is harder than most people.
Lindsay Harrison Aggie The stigma around it is definitely there within our community and our students coming in I think having to retrain and reframe those thoughts around what they’re doing and how hard it is and how much commitment and time it takes. Colin Melton is a GED student.
Colin Melton At the coalition. He says part of the difficulty is trying to make up for years of learning in a much shorter time span.
Sarah Asch If you haven’t gone to high school, clearly you can’t just re-enroll in high school again, so you’re going to have to do these tests, and these tests are not easy at all.
Sarah Asch Some might consider the GED a shortcut, but that was not always the case. The exam was created in 1942 as a way to bridge the education gap for World War II veterans.
Sarah Asch At the end of a five-day trip from England, the Queen Elizabeth, world’s largest ocean liner, pulls into New York Harbor.
Sarah Asch These are the soldiers coming back who had their schooling disrupted by being drafted or by enrolling in the armed forces.
Sarah Asch Blake Heller teaches courses on education and labor economics at the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston. He says civilians weren’t able to take the GED until the 1950s. This was just around the time that graduating high school became the standard for most middle class white Americans, and the Ged was seen as a step to take before entering the workforce.
Blake Heller We think about the educational environment in that period, fewer than 20% of adults hold college degrees. Most people aren’t thinking of post-secondary training as kind of a default in terms of their entry into a career.
Sarah Asch By 1960, roughly 60,000 people took the GED, and that number continued to grow until over one million people took the exam in 2001. Increasingly during that time, the G ED became a pathway towards further education or more workforce training.
Sarah Asch Most people will join a GED course because they’ve reached a point in their careers where they’ve hit kind of a ceiling.
Sarah Asch Carlos Contreras teaches GED classes for the Literacy Coalition.
Carlos Contreras Whenever they come to us, it’s usually that like, hey, I’m tired of the job that I do have in order to advance. I’m going to need to like I’m gonna need to have some sort of paper certification.
Sarah Asch The data backs this up. Professor Heller says as the earnings of college graduates have gone up over time between the 1970s and the early 2000s, so too did the number of GED test takers who want to pursue higher education. The gap between what high school graduates earn and what college graduates earn is called the college wage premium.
Sarah Asch The share of GED graduates or GED testers who say they plan on pursuing further study at the time of the test, tracks almost lockstep with the college wage premium. So as the value of college increases, the share GED graduate who are seeing this as a motivating factor in why they’re taking the test is also rising.
Sarah Asch Colin Melton is considering taking some college courses when he finishes his GED, but mostly he says he’s looking forward to being able to apply for more jobs.
Colin Melton Most jobs at least require you to have a high school diploma minimum, that’s just definitely something that I don’t want to have to worry about forever.
Sarah Asch The fifth version of the GED was released in 2014. That year, the test went fully digital and also became more expensive, which coincided with a drop in the number of test-takers. Lisa Stewart, the CEO of the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, says the content of the test also got an update.
Lisa Stewart They added more layers of content than the previous version, and it actually goes more in depth, especially with the math.
Sarah Asch So this is actually like harder than I thought it was going to be. I was definitely the most nervous about the math exam.
Sarah Asch Oh boy, here we go, okay. Yeah, I’m gonna need that whiteboard. We’re doing exponents right away.
Sarah Asch But luckily, I passed the math section and the remaining three parts of the test as well. Contreras says the goal is for students to use these practice tests to predict their GED scores. That way, they can gain confidence they will pass when they sit down for the real deal. And especially for students who struggled with school in the past, that confidence is an important factor.
Carlos Contreras We always say you never fail, you either learn or you pass. Those are our two things. You’re either passing or you’re learning.
Sarah Asch And for those who are ready to learn, be they 19 years old or 90, the GED test is always an option. In Austin, I’m Sarah Asch.
Jerry Quijano All right, we’re coming up on a break here on Austin Signal. Thank you for making us part of your Monday. We got the best songs from August, 2026. Thanks to our friends over at KUTX. Trust me, you’re gonna wanna hear some of these. That’s coming up right after this break. This is Austin Signal This is Austin Signal. Welcome back. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is blocking state agencies from spending money on FLOC surveillance cameras. The AI-enabled technology used by law enforcement has drawn scrutiny across the country. Abbott says Texas is tightening oversight after allegations of misuse of the data collected. His directive bars state agencies from paying for additional cameras. FLOCs says it has been adding new privacy safeguards to its systems. They say the technology helps police investigate crimes, recover stolen vehicles, and find missing people. There is still a good chance we’re gonna hit triple digits every day this week, but there’s also a slight chance of some rain coming our way. Starting Wednesday, the chance of an isolated shower increases for a few days, but even with the rain, the heat is gonna stick with us at least into next week. And Texas football is coming back this weekend. The Longhorns will open their season with a central Texas matchup against the Texas State Bobcats. Kickoff at DKR Texas Memorial Stadium is set for 2.30 on Saturday. The weather service is forecasting a high right near 101. It is the last day of August and today we got the best songs from this month to share with you so you can add to that playlist as we get ready for football and tailgating season. Here to help us out is our friend from KUTX, Joel Aguillon Lafargue. Joel, welcome back to the show.
Joel Aguillon Lafargue Hi, thank you for having me.
Jerry Quijano Okay, so we got some really, really great songs to share and we’re gonna start with the artist of the month. It is the final day of August and the artist for this month was Paige Plaisant. So we got a chance to talk with her last week and hear some of her music. What’s this song that you’re bringing to us today?
Joel Aguillon Lafargue Well, this song is called Waiting, it’s so good, it on all my playlists, it very belty, very Americana, I love it when someone just like sings.
Paige Plaisant I used to be and I heard Maybe I still am You told me that you earned it The right to slow down
Joel Aguillon Lafargue When she came in to Studio 1A, like last month, I believe, I was in the booth running it for a second and I was two-stepping. I was dancing back and forth her whole set. It’s so amazing. I can’t wait to see her live on Saturday for her show at Anton’s, and I need that whole album out now!
Jerry Quijano That’s right. Swampwater is coming out this Friday, and I agree. She’s got such a great band, the band that came to visit us here at Studio 1A, but her voice is just out of this world. I know you got to talk to her a little bit for some KUTX social media videos. Did you learn anything about her process?
Joel Aguillon Lafargue Well, she’s originally from Louisiana, but she’s been here for like 12 years and she talked about like her love for Austin Why she moved here to Austin after college and it was so interesting to like, I don’t know Really relate to it as someone who isn’t from here originally as well. And she’s she was really sweet
Jerry Quijano I think that’s a really good point. I’m not from here either and she seems to have her feet Rooted firmly here in Austin, but her music carries so much of the roots that she is bringing with her from Louisiana So it’s really cool page plays on please as Joel said her album Swampwater comes out on Friday And then she’s gonna have a celebration show this Saturday out at Antone’s. Okay, Joel. Let’s talk about another song This is from another former artist of the month Bayonne. What’s the song?
Joel Aguillon Lafargue It’s called Oxygen. Like much of his music, it kind of exists in like this liminal space. It feels so comfortable, it feels so warm, but also something you’ve never heard before. I saw him at our South by Southwest showcase earlier this year, it was cool, he was with all the keys and stuff.
Jerry Quijano Yeah, it was really great because it was just him and a drummer and the drummer’s just banging and banging and and he’s going from Instrument to instrument and creating this cacophony of sounds and yeah, you really it’s really present on this new track So make sure and check that out. Okay, let’s talk about holy wave who is holy wave
Joel Aguillon Lafargue Holy Wave, wait, before we get into Holy Wave I just wanna say that Beyon also has a hot sauce out that he’s selling. Oh, okay, okay. I’m glad that you interrupted. Tell me more about this hot sauce. Well, it started a few years back. He came with a whole case of it for his Studio 1A session, and he was just like selling them at the door of our studio. So it was cool. But Holy Wave getting into Holy wave, they also came into our Studio 1 A session. Uh, this song is called First Day, off their album I’m Dada.
Jerry Quijano Dada, like the artist, like, the art form Dada?
Joel Aguillon Lafargue Like a father, I believe, don’t quote me.
Joel Aguillon Lafargue But this whole album was recorded in Mexico, and it’s really cool. They were really nice here in studio. They were funny, I guess, with the name I’m Dada. They keep it tongue in cheek.
Jerry Quijano Very cool, okay, well, there’s also some new music out this month from Doryeo. We got a chance to speak to Dorio ahead of their Rock the Park that was last year. You can check that out at kut.org slash signal.
Dorio Feeling empty on a Tuesday, trash is full, the room is warm I don’t wanna do what you-
Jerry Quijano and Chaparral as well. Joel, we are, I mean, today is the last day of August, so we are a little more than a month away from Austin city limits. What are you excited about? Who are you are excited about seeing this year?
Joel Aguillon Lafargue Charlie XCX, I have a Charlie XCX set and I wear it everywhere. I’m proud of who I am and that is a Charlie fan. What about more locally? More locally, I know Grocery Bag’s going, they were here in studio as well, also like got to work with one of the guys there, like for the student radio station, awesome, awesome guy. And almost Evan, as well. When he stood up on a chair in the middle of our, I’ve been talking about these Studio 1As, but we have some great sessions here with some like amazing artists.
Jerry Quijano Absolutely, we’re very lucky to host all of these artists and to be…
To see so many of these performances. But the good thing is is that we record most of these performances so you can check out all the ones that we’ve been talking about. Maybe not all of them, they’ll be there in the future, but a lot of the artists that we are talking about have performances in Studio 1A, so you check those out at KUTX.org. Okay, that is Joel Aguillon Lafargue. He is from our sister station KUTx. Joel, thanks for the recommendations. Thank you. And thank you out there for making us part of your Monday. That is it for us today here on Austin Signal. We’re gonna have more reporting from the stories we shared with you in today’s podcast, Show Notes, and you can always find that too, over at kut.org slash signal. Jake Perlman is our technical director, Alexandra Hart is our producer, and Kristin Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We’re going to be back at the same time tomorrow and all week long. We’ll talk to you t
hen!
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
