Electricity Conservation Needed – ERCOT Initiating Emergency Procedures
ERCOT expects to hit another all-time peak demand record today surpassing the one it set Tuesday. Consumers and businesses are being asked to reduce their electricity use during peak electricity hours from 3 to 7 p.m.
“We’re expecting record high temperatures and electricity demand to continue for the remainder of the week, so we are asking consumers and businesses to reduce their electricity as much as they are able for the remainder of the week,” Kent Saathoff, vice president of system planning and operations said.
“There’s a possibility that we may have to go to a level 2 emergency today which authorizes operators to drop the interruptible loads – large customers paid to be dropped in a level 2 emergency. Dropping the load resources provides extra capacity for the remaining customers,” Saathoff said.
If the capacity shortage is not relieved by the contract demand response, ERCOT escalates to a Power Emergency (Energy Emergency Alert Level 3) and will instruct utilities to reduce demand on the grid by conducting temporary outages at the local distribution level. These controlled temporary interruptions of electrical service – or rotating outages – typically last 15-45 minutes before being rotated to a different neighborhood.
Consumers should contact the utility company/ transmission provider listed on their electric bill for information about power outages at their homes or business, or about rotating outage procedures for their area.
