ERCOT urges power conservation during spring storm event

(Texas News Radio) — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is asking Texas power users to reduce consumption Tuesday afternoon into Tuesday evening because of springtime weather in the state.

“Due to a combination of high generation outages typical in April and higher-than-forecasted demand from a stalled cold front over Texas, ERCOT may enter into emergency conditions this afternoon,” said ERCOT Vice President of Grid Planning and Operations Woody Rickerson. “Given the event in February, it is important to note that we do not expect customer outages. Rather, this emergency declaration allows us to access tools that will bring supply and demand back into line.”

The state is currently seeing scattered thunderstorms across the state with temperatures as low as the mid-50s in the Permian Basin area to as high as the upper-80s in south and southeast Texas.