Widespread Power Outages Reported Due to Weather and Rolling Blackouts
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The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) entered emergency conditions and initiated rotating outages early this morning. Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) customers in Canyon Lake should expect controlled service disruptions throughout the day.
PEC said there also are numerous outages unrelated to the statewide directive that have resulted from hazardous conditions.
Extreme weather conditions caused many generating units — across fuel types — to trip offline and become unavailable, ERCOT said.
ERCOT’s rolling blackouts will last through the morning and could be initiated until the weather emergency ends. PEC warned customers that controlled outages might continue throughout the day.
“These service interruptions will continue as long as the regional grid operator experiences peak demand,” PEC said in a press release. “If an interruption occurs in your area, please take proactive steps for power restoration. All electrical appliances affected by the service disruption should be turned off, as well as circuit breakers to major appliances. Once power is restored, members can avoid electrical overload by turning their appliances back on in 15-minute intervals.”
As of 10:45 a.m., 15,014 customers in Canyon Lake’s 78133 zip code were without electricity, according to PEC’s website. Click here to check for outages in your area. To report an outage, use PEC’s SmartHub app or click here to visit pec.smarthub.coop.
PEC said it is working to address members’ needs as safely and quickly as possible.
ERCOT said about 10,5000 megawatts (MW) of customer load was shed at the highest point. This is enough power to serve approximately two million homes. There is now over 30,000 MW of generation forced off the system.
“Every grid operator and every electric company is fighting to restore power right now,” said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness.
Canyon Lake Water Service Company on Sunday suspended all repairs related to water outages across its service area. The utility said most calls over the past 24 hours are primarily due to customers’ frozen pipes.
