City Council meets Thursday, March 4, to take up additional relief measures for people impacted financially by Winter Storm Uri. These include $5 million to both Austin Water and Austin Energy to fund the Plus-One payment assistance programs at each utility, which provide bill relief to customers experiencing financial hardship. Council expanded the program in April 2020 in response to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. Another proposal from Austin Energy would waive its $20 service initiation fee for new customers, so that those forced to relocate due to storm damage can avoid the fee. That ordinance would also waive a $10 service charge on February bills for all customers. Together, those relief measures will cost the utility about $4.7 million and will be in effect until at least April 3. Austin Water will also adjust its billing, using historical averages for customers' water usage instead of actual data from February to offset days of dripping faucets. The fee for emergency shut-offs of water service will also be waived; all told, these relief measures will cost Austin Water about $3.5 million.