Requests conservation between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.
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With the winter storm encompassing the entire state and temperatures forecasted to be colder this evening and into tomorrow morning, ERCOT is asking Texans to conserve electricity use, if safe to do so, Tuesday, Jan. 16, from 6-9 a.m. ERCOT is forecasting higher demand this morning as Texans return to work and schools reopen. This request extends to all government agencies, including city and county offices.
On Tuesday morning, Lampasas ISD campuses started at regularly scheduled times.
On Monday morning, ERCOT officials said they avoided emergency operations due to the conservation efforts by Texas residents and businesses, combined with additional grid reliability tools. ERCOT is expecting similar conditions on Wednesday, January 17, and will continue to closely monitor conditions and keep the public informed through official communication channels.
“[Tuesday’s] conservation appeal does not indicate ERCOT is experiencing emergency conditions at this time,” officials said in a news release. “ERCOT will remain vigilant and communicate further if conditions change because of continued freezing temperatures and very high demand in the morning hours. At this time, if you are experiencing an outage, it is local in nature and not related to overall grid reliability. Please check with your local electric provider for more information.”
ERCOT officials described conservation as a “widely used industry tool that can help lower demand for a specific period of peak demand time, which is typically during the morning hours in winter.”
Officials said they are doing what they can to reduce power usage during this time as well as obtain additional generation capacity.
“ERCOT continues to use additional tools to manage the grid reliably, including using reserve power, calling upon reductions by large electric customers that have volunteered to lower their energy use, and bringing more generation online sooner. ERCOT is also working with out-of-state Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Market Participants to obtain additional power generation capacity, if available. ERCOT has obtained Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) enforcement discretion, which allows a generator to extend its service/run-time/operations to help meet demand, if needed, and maintain grid reliability,” officials said in the release.
Energy-saving tips can be found on the TXANS webpage at ercot.com/txans.
Why the Request to Reduce Usage?
ERCOT officials attributed the need for conservation to extreme cold, “record-breaking demand” and the unavailability of solar power and low wind generation during early morning hours.
Peak Demand
Sunday night, ERCOT set a new January peak demand of 70,982 Megawatts in the 8-9 p.m. hour, passing the previous January peak demand record of 65,915 MW set Jan. 17, 2018, in the 7-8 a.m. hour.
On Monday, ERCOT broke that January peak and set a new all-time winter peak demand record with 75,559 MW in the 9-10 a.m. hour.
The previous winter peak demand record of 74,525 MW was set Dec. 23, 2022, in the 7-8 a.m. hour during Winter Storm Elliott. In 2023, January peak demand was 65,632 MW in the 6-7 p.m. hour Jan. 31.
The all-time peak demand record of 85,508 MW occurred Aug. 10, 2023.
Stay Updated
ERCOT officials stated there are several ways to stay updated:
Sign up for TXANS notifications on the TXANS webpage.
Download the ERCOT Mobile App for additional notifications: iOS | Android.
Monitor real-time and extended conditions at ercot.com.
Subscribe to ERCOT Emergency Alerts, which are not sent through TXANS notifications.
Follow ERCOT on Twitter (@ERCOT_ISO), Facebook (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), and LinkedIn (ERCOT).
For consumer assistance, contact the Public Utility Commission of Texas Hotline: 1-888-782-8477.
