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Texans are being asked to conserve energy through Friday as temperatures rise. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas says there are tight grid conditions after 11,000 megawatts of generation was taken offline for repairs.
ERCOT noted it's unusual for so many units to be taken out of service early in the summer season. "We will be conducting a thorough analysis with generation owners to determine why so many units are out of service," said ERCOT Vice President of Grid Planning and Operations Woody Rickerson. "This is unusual for this early in the summer season."
The outages are expected to decrease as the week goes on.
- View daily peak demand forecast, current load and available generation at http://www.ercot.com.
ERCOT asked customers to take the following actions to help reduce electric use:
- Set your thermostat to 78 degrees or higher – every degree of cooling increases your energy use by six to eight percent.
- Turn off lights and pool pumps and avoid using large appliances like ovens, washing machines and dryers.
- If you don’t need something – they are asking you to turn it off and unplug it if possible.