ERCOT requests conservation from businesses, residents Thursday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

HOUSTON – The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is asking residents to conserve electricity use, if safe to do so, Thursday from 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.

ERCOT said operating reserves are expected to be low Thursday afternoon due to continued high temperatures, high demand, low wind, and declining solar power generation into the afternoon and evening hours.

ERCOT has requested both Texas businesses and residents conserve electricity use.

Conservation is a widely used tool that can help lower demand for a specific period of peak demand time, which is typically late afternoon into the evening hours, ERCOT said. Energy-saving tips can be found on the TXANS webpage at ercot.com/txans.

If you are experiencing an outage at this time, it is reportedly not related to overall grid reliability. You’re urged to check with your local electric provider for more information.

You can monitor grid conditions on http://ercot.com.

For additional assistance, contact the Public Utility Commission of Texas hotline at 1-888-782-8477.

Why the request to reduce usage?

• Wind: Wind generation is forecasted to be lower this afternoon/evening during peak demand time.
• Thermal generation: High level of unexpected thermal generation outages.

Peak demand

• ERCOT set a new, all-time, unofficial peak demand record of 85,435 MW on August 10.
• In 2022, the August peak demand was 78,465 MW.
• This summer, ERCOT has set 10 new all-time peak demand records.
• Last summer, ERCOT set 11 new peak demand records with a high of 80,148 MW on July 20.

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