Ercot Asking Texans to Conserve Power During Intense Heat

Summer has hit Texas, and as all of us Texans know, the hottest days are yet to come! This year, it's not just us here in Texas that we're dealing with extreme heat, temperatures are hitting records highs across the country and we're barely in June!

The heat is getting hella extreat that now the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (or ERCOT for short) is asking Texans to conserve power in the midst of this heatwave to avoid rolling blackouts. I, myself hadn't seen the notice, but I do have a couple of friends who live in the Austin area who posted all the rules that ERCOT is encouraging everyone to follow. Here's what it says:

ERCOT has requested all Texans to conserve energy due to high temperatures today through Friday, June 18. ERCOT suggests the following simple 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 – we are asking you to turn it off and unplug it if possible.
  Find all the details and helpful information from ERCOT below. Tight grid conditions expected due to high number of forced generation outages (ercot.com)
• Have concerns? Please contact Public Utility Commission of Texas Hotline – 1-888-782-8477

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This is the same company that during the winter storm in February wasn't prepared enough to keep Texans warm.

As horrible as it sounds for our friends in other parts of Texas, for us here in El Paso, we're pretty safe from all that as EP isn't part of the ERCOT grid. However, that doesn't prevent us from getting our own rolling blackouts. Across the city, we've experienced our own set of blackouts during this heat. In any case it's best to be prepared for any rolling blackout, check out a preparedness list here.