On June 27, people from all over the state had a scare when the Electric Reliability Council of Texas had a step one emergency event.
Flashbacks of the rolling blackouts held during the snowstorm this past February went through their minds in this over 100-degree weather.
Fortunately though, the emergency was not caused by an over-usage of electricity, but rather equipment breakdowns, according to Dottie Roark, spokesperson for ERCOT.
“We lost three units that were fairly large, which put us below what we needed to have to run normally,” she said.
According to Roark, ERCOT made an appeal to the public that day, asking people to limit their use of electricity from 3-7 p.m., when it is used the most, and to delay using larger appliances until after 7 p.m.
“We were only in step one for a day and all of the generation plants are now up and running,” she said.
Roark said she does not expect ERCOT to ask utility companies to hold rolling blackouts during this summer even though it has been warmer than usual.
“Over the past 21 years, we have only had to do three rolling blackouts and none of them have been in the summer,” she said.
Continue reading Hot weather calls for energy conservation
Is a policy analyst consultant for TCAP, a coalition of political subdivisions in Texas that purchase electricity in the deregulated market for their own governmental use. Because energy costs are typically a significant budget item to our members, TCAP is consistently looking for ways to save our members money, through cost-saving contracts, energy efficiency or demand response programs.