How to Fill Out and Submit the Austin Energy ESPA Form

The Austin Energy ESPA form, formally the Electric Service Planning Application, is the document you file before Austin Energy will design or modify electric service to a property in its territory. You submit one for every address that will have a meter, and you submit it any time a project changes the load, voltage, or configuration at that address. The form tells the utility’s engineers what you need so they can confirm the existing infrastructure can carry it or plan the upgrades that will.¹

When You Need To File One

Any project that adds, removes, or changes metered electric service triggers an ESPA. The form itself lists the triggering project types:²

New residential, commercial, or mixed-use construction that needs a meter.
Remodels or rebuilds that change service voltage, upgrade panel size, or relocate the meter.
Temporary or construction power for a jobsite.
Specialty installations: traffic signals, dual-feed configurations, and small cell facilities.

One boundary worth knowing before you start: rooftop solar installations that stay entirely on the customer side of the meter do not require an ESPA. They go through a separate auxiliary electrical power permit. You only need an ESPA for solar when the project also involves work on the utility side, such as a service panel upgrade.³ Larger distributed generation systems between 500 kW and 10 MW, and anything on the downtown network, use the separate Austin Energy Distributed Generation Application instead.⁴

Gather Your Supporting Documents First

The ESPA form by itself will not get you a submission. Pull these items together before you open the PDF, because several of them affect what you write on the form.

Address Verification Report. Required for every project. Download it from the City of Austin Property Profile tool at maps.austintexas.gov/PropertyProfile by entering the address and following the prompts. It confirms the address is registered with 911 and recognized by the city.⁵

Site plan showing the preferred meter location. Meter placement is governed by the Austin Energy Design Criteria Manual, and the clearance rules will shape where you can actually put equipment. Pad-mounted gear needs at least 5 feet of clearance from brick or masonry walls and 12 feet from non-masonry structures. No covering, building, or structure of any kind may sit directly above an equipment pad. Austin Energy trucks need a clear path at least 12 feet wide and 16 feet tall to reach the equipment, and the surface must support a vehicle weighing over 72,000 pounds. The setup area in front of the pad must measure at least 20 by 35 feet with 35 feet of vertical clearance. All utility equipment must sit at least 2 feet above the 100-year floodplain.⁶ Reviewing these criteria before you draw the meter on your site plan saves rework later.

Approved building permit. Most projects need an approved building permit from the Austin Development Services Department before you can apply for the electric permit that follows ESPA approval.⁵

Completing the ESPA Form

The ESPA is a fillable PDF on Austin Energy’s contractor resources page. Submit it in editable format rather than printing and scanning.⁷ The form breaks into customer information, project information, and electrical specifications.

Customer and Project Information

Enter the property owner’s name, phone, and email. If an electrical engineer, electrical contractor, or other representative is handling the application, their contact details go in the representative fields. Then fill in the project name, 911 service address, nearest intersection, and service provider (Austin Energy). The current form identifies the property by its 911 address and does not include a tax parcel ID field.²

Check the box for your project type: new construction, remodel/rebuild, traffic signal, dual feed, or small cell. Indicate whether you need permanent service or temporary construction power, which is limited to 24 months. Include an estimated service need date so engineering can prioritize.

Electrical Specifications

This is the section where mistakes become expensive, because wrong information here leads to equipment that has to be torn out and redone. Fill it in with your electrician or electrical engineer.

Select the type of service first: overhead, underground, secondary riser, or one of the downtown network options (network transformer vault, network underground, or secondary). Then choose the service voltage from the standard options the form offers:²

120/240V, single-phase, 3-wire, the standard for most residential projects.
120/240V, three-phase, 4-wire, available for overhead or secondary riser only.
120/208V, three-phase, 4-wire, common for commercial buildings.
120/208V, single-phase, 3-wire, network service only.
277/480V, three-phase, 4-wire, for larger commercial and industrial loads.
7200/12470V primary meter, for very large facilities metered at the primary level.

The load section asks for the building use (residential, warehouse, restaurant, retail, office, mixed use, and so on), total square footage, number of units, and fuel type (all-electric or gas and electric). Enter the total NEC-calculated load in amps, not kilowatts. Specify the service wire type, size, quantity, and length. For the main disconnect, choose from the standard sizes: 200, 350, 400, 600, 800, 1,200, 1,600, or 2,000 amps. List the meter can sizes, how many meters you need, and the total number of meters once the job is complete.

Submitting Through Austin Build + Connect

Every ESPA goes through Austin Energy’s online portal, Austin Build + Connect (AB+C), at abc.austintexas.gov. There is no fee to submit a design intake request.⁷ The path through the portal:

Create an AB+C account, log in, and click the blue “+ Apply for Permits/Cases” button.
Under Application Type, choose “Austin Energy Additional Services” (AEAS). Set Sub Type to “Design Intake” and Work Type to either “Design Consult” or “Design Submission.”
Select your name from the Applicant dropdown and write a detailed scope of work in the Folder Description field.
Type the project address in the search field and select the correct result.
Choose the submission type that fits your project, indicate whether the property is in North or South Austin, and enter the principal contact’s information.
Upload the completed fillable ESPA, the site plan, the Address Verification Report, and any other required documents, with a description for each attachment.
Review the summary and click Submit. A confirmation email verifies that Design Intake received your entry.

If the confirmation email arrives, your submission went through. Austin Energy then runs a completeness check before assigning the request for engineering review.⁸

What Happens After You Submit

Once your intake clears the completeness check, Austin Energy assigns it to an engineering team that runs a feasibility study to determine whether the local grid can carry your requested load or whether upgrades are needed. The utility’s signature on the approved ESPA is its confirmation that it can provide the load, voltage, and infrastructure type you requested.¹

If your project needs new transformers, plan for a long wait. Nationwide supply chain issues have pushed transformer procurement lead times from the historical 2–3 months to over a year in many cases, driven by shortages of electrical steel, sheet aluminum, magnet wire, and other components.⁹ Austin Energy will let customers source their own equipment when it can safely operate on the utility’s system, which can shorten the wait. Ask your assigned utility representative about self-sourcing early. You can track status on commercial and large residential projects through Austin Energy’s Design Review Portal, linked from the Construction and Renovation page.⁵

Fees To Expect

Costs come in layers: an account fee, meter and service wire charges, and, for anything beyond simple residential, line extension charges that can run much higher.

The initiation fee for new utility service is $20. Re-initiating service at an address where you previously had an account costs $25. Meter installation is charged at direct costs plus 15 percent for both single-phase and automated meters.¹⁰

For residential service-only projects that do not require an Austin Energy design, the utility publishes flat rates:¹¹

Overhead service, 200-amp meter, up to 75 ft of wire: $400.
Overhead service, 320-amp meter, up to 55 ft of wire: $400.
Underground service, 200-amp meter, up to 150 ft of wire: $800.
Underground service, 320-amp meter, up to 150 ft of wire: $1,600.
Standard single-phase meter up to 320 amps, where service wire is customer-provided or included in an Austin Energy design: $200.
Standard three-phase meter under the same conditions: $300.

Specialty metering is billed at actual cost. On projects that require an Austin Energy design, the meter and service wire charges fold into the total line extension cost rather than being billed separately.

Under Austin City Council Resolution No. 20140612-057, Austin Energy collects 100 percent of the costs to extend service from existing infrastructure to your property. These charges, formally called Contributions in Aid of Construction (CIAC), cover all estimated labor and materials to modify existing infrastructure and extend lines to your point of service.⁶ Any excess facilities or costs beyond standard service must also be paid in full. A waiver exists for qualifying affordable housing developments, applied to the portion of line extension fees attributed to the affordable units (total line extension fees multiplied by the percentage of the development that qualifies as residential affordable housing). Starting April 15, 2026, traffic control plan fees, right-of-way permit fees, and TCP setup and breakdown fees will be included on a project’s final design invoice when the work requires them.⁵

If You Need Temporary Construction Power

When the jobsite needs electricity before permanent service is ready, use the “Construction Power/Temporary Service” option on the same ESPA. Austin Energy provides temporary power for up to 24 months, strictly for construction. If your project runs longer, contact Austin Energy at 512-494-9400 before the 24-month mark, because failure to do so can result in a disconnect.¹²

Temporary meter loops come in two types. A Home Builder Loop (HBL) is a single-phase loop used only for constructing, adding to, or remodeling a single-family home or duplex. A Temporary Power Loop (TPL) covers everything else: triplex and quadruplex residences, commercial and multifamily construction, temporary offices, seasonal lots, and food stands. Both require a minimum 200-amp meter can, a City of Austin permit, and a Development Services building inspection before Austin Energy will connect them. TPL installations also require a separate address identifier from Address Management before you submit the ESPA. You pay the full labor cost for installing and removing temporary facilities, plus the cost of any non-reusable materials and applicable city fees, all before installation begins. Temporary power is automatically disconnected when the permanent meter goes in.

1
Austin Energy. Electric Service Planning Application (ESPA)
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Austin Energy. Electric Service Planning Application (ESPA) Form
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Austin Energy. AE Solar Permitting Manual
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Austin Energy. Distribution System Interconnection Guide for Customer-Owned Power Production Facilities
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Austin Energy. Construction and Renovation
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Austin Energy. Austin Energy Design Criteria
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Austin Energy. Complete an Intake Request
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Austin Energy. Common Forms
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American Public Power Association. Austin Energy Addresses Transformer Shortage, Supply Chain Issues
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Austin Energy. Austin Energy Fee Schedule
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Austin Energy. Meter and Service Wire Charges
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City of Austin. Austin Energy Design Criteria – Temporary Distribution Power