Texas is a famously independent sort of place, where the citizens are wildly proud of their status as a state that is about two legislative moves away from becoming its own country.
This sort of attitude certainly instills an incredible pride in Texans but has also led to some questionable decisions as it pertains to things like infrastructure. The power grid, for example, is not a part of the federal system, with all of the assurances and guarantees that come with it.
Over the winter, as Texans looked to keep their homes warm during a freakishly cold snap, the grid failed miserably, leading to a number of deaths and countless damage to homes, water infrastructure, and confidence.
Now that the heat has arrived, so have the outages.
Officials with Texas’ power grid operator pleaded with residents Monday to limit their electrical usage amid soaring temperatures and a series of mechanical problems at power plants.
The appeal, from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, comes four months after deadly blackouts during a winter storm left millions of people without power — and weeks after state legislators passed a package of measures aimed at fixing some of the problems exposed by the storm.
Officials with the nonprofit group, which oversees 90 percent of Texas’ energy production, asked residents to set their thermostats higher, turn off lights and avoid using larger appliances until Friday.
A spokeswoman for the group told reporters that the outages accounted for more than 12,000 megawatts, enough to power 2.4 million homes. Some areas of the state, including Dallas and Tarrant counties, were warned about poor air quality and potentially dangerous heat, with the heat index approaching 110 degrees.
Officials with power company ERCOT could not explain the unplanned outages, leading to a further loss of confidence among residents.
