Texas’ power grid is holding amid arctic conditions as a polar vortex sweeps across the region just days before Christmas.
This storm has created winter conditions across the United States, with accumulating snowfall, below-zero wind chill temperatures, and hard freezes.
Gov. Greg Abbott assured Texans ahead of the storm that the state’s electrical power grid was prepared for the severe cold weather.
“The State of Texas is ready to fully and robustly respond to the severe cold weather event expected to impact Texas this holiday week, and our state’s electrical grid is absolutely prepared to meet demand over the course of this storm,” said Abbott in a press release on Wednesday.
The Texas power grid experienced a major failure in February 2021 in the midst of an ice storm affecting the entire state. This storm disrupted power for more than 4.5 million homes and caused over $195 billion in property damages. At least 57 deaths across 25 counties occurred amid the outages.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) reported that, as of December 23, the overall power demand is being met by the available supply, and the grid system continues to operate under normal conditions.
ERCOT predicted that energy use would peak at about 8 a.m. on December 23, according to NBC 5 DFW.
Despite the power grid holding, some Texans are finding themselves without power. Oncor Electric Delivery Company’s outage map showed 708 outages across Texas around mid-morning on Friday, affecting over 18,000 people.
Princeton resident Roque Garcia told CBS News that his home, as well as his entire neighborhood, had gone dark.
“It is very frustrating because we pay our electric bills to Oncor, and all day it’s been going in and out,” said Garcia.
Oncor attributed high winds and freezing temperatures as the cause of power loss in the service area. The agency reported that its crews would work through the night to restore power to affected areas.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management tweeted that warming centers across the region are available to those who have lost power.
