ERCOT Calls for Energy Conservation

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is issuing a Conservation Appeal, asking Texans and Texas businesses to voluntarily conserve electricity on Wednesday, July 13 between 2-9 p.m.

At this time, no mandatory rotating outages are expected.

ERCOT states, “Today’s conditions are expected to be similar to those experienced on Monday, July 11, 2022. On that day, Texans and businesses responded by voluntarily conserving electricity and helping ERCOT successfully meet record power demand by reducing their energy use by 500 MWs.”

Conservation is a reliability tool ERCOT deploys when projected reserves may fall below 2300 MW for 30 minutes or more. ERCOT continues to use all tools available to manage the grid effectively and reliably, including using reserve power and calling upon large electric customers who have volunteered to lower their energy use.

ERCOT is as an independent, not-for-profit organization responsible for overseeing the reliable and safe transmission of electricity over the power grid serving most of Texas. All utilities, including WCEC, connected to ERCOT’s grid are required to abide by their rules and protocols. If the grid becomes unbalanced, it can cause dangerous conditions forcing ERCOT to issue Energy Emergency Alerts (EEA). EEAs can call for all connected utilities to reduce their part of the demand on the system. This is called load shed and is accomplished by mandatory rotating outages to consumers. During mandatory rotating outages, WCEC’s power supplier, South Texas Electric Cooperative, would schedule and control the outages on WCEC’s electric system.

WCEC urges our members to comply with ERCOT’s call for conservation.

Conservation tips are available at MyWCEC.coop/BeatThePeak. The best way to conserve during hot weather is to raise your thermostat by 2-3 degrees, if comfortable, and to limit the use of large appliances such as the washer/dryer, oven, water heater, etc. during the conservation hours.

For updates on this evolving situation, please follow WCEC on Facebook and Instagram and keep an eye on our website at MyWCEC.coop. Our office hours are Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

ERCOT’s full press release is available at ERCOT.com/News/Releases. Electricity demand can be tracked at ERCOT.com. In addition, the Public Utility Commission of Texas can be reached at their hotline – 1-888-782-8477.