ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) said the extreme heat is driving record power demand across the state and it may not have enough supply.
Texas’ electricity regulator warned residents and businesses to reduce the amount of power they use on Monday as the heat index was forecast to soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, putting a strain on the state’s grid and potentially leading to rolling blackouts across the state.
Thermostats should be turned up at least one degree Fahrenheit, and major appliances should not be used from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Central time on Monday, according to an alert from the regulator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages about 90 percent of the state’s electric load.
ERCOT does not expect systemwide outages. The alert is one step before an Energy Emergency Level 1, which would allow the regulator to tap electricity from other grids nearby when reserves are dangerously low. If the situation worsens, ERCOT can order transmission companies to cut off power to industrial customers and residential consumers.
13 MONTHS AGO
Gov Abbott Says Power Grid Fixed
Despite experts who say Texas’ power grid remains vulnerable, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott declared Tuesday that new reforms “fix all of the flaws” that caused February’s deadly winter blackout that left more than 4 million people without power in subfreezing weather. “Bottom line is that everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas.”
He was joined by Republicans who defended it as a good deal for consumers, even though they gave no direct financial relief to families who were stuck with high energy bills or lost income as the lights and heat stayed off for days.
More than 4 million people lost power when temperatures plunged into single digits over Valentine Day’s weekend, icing power generators and buckling the state’s electric grid. State officials say they have confirmed at least 151 deaths blamed on the freeze and resulting outages, but the real toll is believed to be higher.
