Texas power grid: ERCOT issues conservation appeal for Saturday, August 26

TEXAS - The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has issued a Conservation Appeal due to low wind and potential low solar generation and high demand.

The grid operator is asking consumers and businesses to conserve electricity use, if safe to do so, Saturday from 3 p.m. – 9 p.m. CenterPoint Energy does not generate electricity itself, so any shortage of electric power capacity from the electric grid is not something that the company controls. 

Similar to Friday, Saturday’s conservation appeal does not indicate ERCOT is experiencing emergency conditions at this time. Current forecasts are showing a potential to enter emergency operations this evening because of expected low wind and potential low solar generation and high demand.

 ERCOT is also requesting all government agencies (including city and county offices) to implement all programs to reduce energy use at their facilities.

Consumers can help the ERCOT grid by conserving energy, especially during peak hours of 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Please conserve electricity by:  

• Raising your thermostat by a degree or two, if safe to do so. 
• Avoid using large appliances, such as washers/dryers and dishwashers.
• Turn off and unplug non-essential lights and appliances.
• Set pool pumps to run early morning or overnight; shut off during peak hours.

If conditions worsen, ERCOT may issue a directive to curtail power delivered to customers, which requires transmission and distribution utilities like CenterPoint Energy to implement controlled outages due to power generation shortfall. Controlled outages are planned emergency measures designed to avoid potentially longer and more widespread power outages for customers. There are three levels of Energy Emergency Alerts (EEA), and controlled outages are only implemented as a last resort to maintain reliability of the electric system, and they are done with the intent to rotate outages in the electric service territory based on system conditions.  

Houston-area customers should prepare now and have a back-up plan in place, especially those who rely on electricity for life-sustaining equipment.  

ERCOT is the independent system operator for the region and manages the flow of electric power to most of Texas and more than 26 million Texas customers. CenterPoint Energy is an investor-owned electric utility and a member of ERCOT. The company manages the transmission and distribution of electricity to its approximately 2.7 million customers across the greater Houston area and surrounding communities. 

As needed, CenterPoint Energy will continue to keep customers updated through the company’s customer communication channels, including X, formerly Twitter, (@CNPalerts), Facebook, Power Alert Service, Outage Tracker (Estimated Restoration Times will not be available for these types of emergencies) and the web.