ERCOT urges energy conservation amid record-breaking electric demand

With much of Texas in the throes of extreme cold weather that is expected to last for several more days, the Electric Reliability Council Of Texas Inc. on Feb. 14 asked consumers and businesses to reduce their electricity use as much as possible through Feb. 16 to help protect the reliability of the electric grid.

"We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said.

"At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units. We are asking Texans to take some simple, safe steps to lower their energy use during this time."

ERCOT's request comes two days after the Railroad Commission of Texas issued an emergency order that prioritizes deliveries of natural gas to electric generation facilities during the weather emergency.

The prolonged cold temperatures in Texas have caused electricity and natural gas prices to skyrocket due to strong demand. In ERCOT, electricity demand on Feb. 14 at 1:30 p.m. ET was 64,602 MW, nearing the current winter peak demand record of 65,915 MW set on Jan. 17, 2018.