ERCOT INSTRUCTS UTILITIES TO BEGIN ROTATING OUTAGES DUE TO EXTREME COLD ACROSS TEXAS
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has declared an Energy Emergency Alert Level 3, and has instructed electric utilities throughout the state to begin rotating rolling power outages.
ERCOT says the outages will be temporary, lasting between 15 to 30 minutes at a time, and that they are necessary in order to support demand created by the freezing weather.
Customers are urged to keep their electric loads to a minimum by turning off all unnecessary electronics, appliances, and lighting. Some steps consumers can take include turning their thermostats down to 68 degrees or lower, avoiding using large appliances like ovens and washing machines, closing shades and blinds at night to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows, and opening them during the day to allow sunshine in.
On Sunday, ERCOT reported that it had set a new record for winter peak demand, reaching 69,150 Megawatts between 6 and 7 p.m. ERCOT said this number was more than 3,200 Megawatts higher than the previous winter peak, which was set January 2018.
Anyone who is currently without power should turn their thermostats off or down at least four degrees, turn off nonessential electric appliances and lights, and wait 20 minutes after power is restored before turning anything back on.
Thousands of homes are without power across the region as a result of the freezing weather and the rolling outages instituted by ERCOT. Officials with Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative say there have been as many as 3,800 members in Washington County without power, but that number is changing very frequently due to the rotating outages.
Why do people whine when things happen beyond someone’s control. Listen to yourselves. If this has not happened in 120 years what do you think it was like for people then. Your little sacrifice of only having power for 10 or 20 minutes at a time is nothing. Be a sport about it. If terrorists took it out permanently I guess you would be more accepting. Those guys who work out in horrendous conditions to restore power to whiners deserve gratitude. Act like strong adults instead of whiney babies. Mother Nature is beyond human control, the pandemic-beyond our control but your bad attitudes can be controlled.
I bet your butt is not being affect with the power.
Yes it is. I get 10 minutes in and 50 minutes off. I am just not a whiner and I prepared because we were warned almost 2 weeks prior.
And there’s people that believe the Green New Deal is going to make this better! Global warming has frozen all the wind turbines. Oil is the only way to go! I miss Trump.
You would think that with all the business shutting down they could get us through this cold spell. First 30 minutes on then off now we are at 11 minutes on and 20 minutes off .We were fortunate enough to completely renovate an old home but what about those individuals with just electric heaters and no insulation. If we don’t pay our bill they will flip the switch but our bill is paid and they are still flipping our switch
ERCOT should take care of Texans FIRST. No outside agency like the Federal Government should be able to make ERCOT shut down coal fired
power plants and scrap them. They could be mothballed and kept in shape to be ready on a moment’s notice. We have 300 YEARS of bituminous coal supply in Texas. We have unlimited NATURAL GAS to fire gas turbine power plants and we SHOULD have a surplus of them
available on standby.
This is not the last weather emergency we will see. There are other emergencies looming on the horizon…..EMP/WAR could take down the
entire US power grid……only Texas has the fuel resources and equipment to rebuild the national power grid in a real national emergency. So…
Texas should be building MORE gas fired power plants and the means to keep Texas electrified even through EMP WAR. Texas should SECEDE
from the UNION if the US Government insists on shutting down the oil and gas energy business of Texas. …..as a matter of NATIONAL SECURITY for the USA and especially Texas.
That rolling black outs are due to those wind turbines and solar panels! If they would let us build more gas plants we would not have this problem
This is stupidly to do this. Sounds like the power plants need to start expanding or build new ones. More and more people coming to Texas and more new houses being built and guess what. The electric people or not expanding. Even with solar panels being built now. How can they help when no sun is out. People need start waking up and see the big picture instead of worrying about small things that don’t matter