ERCOT Urges Texans to Conserve Energy as Temperatures Rise

Demand for electricity is up with temperatures across Texas close to or over 100 degrees, that means ERCOT is asking people to conserve energy as much as they can through this Friday.

According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, this comes at a time when Texans are still reeling about the power grid failure in February that killed 700 people.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas reports there is a lot of electricity usage which is causing stressed grid conditions.

ERCOT also says there are about 11,000 megawatts offline for repairs right now which adds up to about 2.2 million homes worth of electricity.

Maintenance outages are common during the months leading up to summer to prepare the grid for extreme hot temperatures but this year the heat has hit pretty early.

The outages this week combined with extreme heat is a recipe for the electricity demand to be greater than 73,000 megawatts, surpassing the previous record in June of 69,100 recorded in 2018.

To reduce your usage of electricity, set your thermostat at 78 degrees, turn off lights, unplug unused appliances and try not to use big appliances like ovens and washers and dryers.

Texas lawmakers passed a bunch of energy grid legislation to curb electricity blackouts after the problems in February, but even with the new legislation it could be years before any of the changes take place.

There is also plans to create a statewide electric grid emergency system, but that will also be years in the making.

The state is also not going to require companies to make weatherization upgrades until sometime in 2022.