Why is ERCOT asking Texans to adjust their thermostats so often?

Jan 07, 2024

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AUSTIN, Texas — The power grid manager covering the majority of Texas wants us to watch our electricity use for the next few days.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued a weather watch for Wednesday, Aug. 23, through Sunday, Aug. 27.

ERCOT leaders cite the constant high temperatures as likely leading to higher demand.

However, Texas' power grid is not at risk of failure. There is currently enough power to meet demand, and there is expected to be enough over the watch duration.

ERCOT calls the measure an operating condition notice (OCN). The grid manager issued an OCN for each day in August, most days in July and nearly half the days in June.

ERCOT records show an OCN can be triggered by insufficient resources, extreme cold or heat forecasted, when a hurricane or tropical storm is forecasted to impact the ERCOT grid or if unplanned transmission outages impact reliability.

When the grid is faced with having high demand and not enough power, ERCOT will issue a conservation appeal.

The demand record has been broken 10 times already this summer. The current record of energy use is 85,116 megawatts, which was set on Aug. 10.. ERCOT forecasts show that the record may be broken again this week.

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