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Live updates on crisis in Texas: ERCOT says it will end emergency conditions Friday

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5 years ago

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PLANO, TX – Around 10:30 a.m. the Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced it has left the last stage of emergency conditions. This is the first time it has returned to normal operations since around 1 a.m. Monday.

Earlier in the day, the agency said no additional outages were needed overnight and only a few generating units tripped. About 40% of supply was lost during the winter storm event this week, officials said.

“Watching those heartbreaking conditions over several days was terrible. We had to make tough decisions when the storm came in. ERCOT didn’t have a choice.”

CEO Bill Magness said they will begin the process of analyzing the issue that occurred this week immediately and that a board meeting is planned.

“Texas can’t afford for this to happen again,” Magness said.

Customers who remain without power are advised to contact their provider, ERCOT said. Those residents likely fall into one of these three categories:

  • Areas out due to ice storm damage on the distribution system.
  • Areas that were taken out of service due to the energy emergency load shed that need to be restored manually.
  • Large industrial facilities voluntarily went offline to help during this energy emergency.

    But despite power being restored for millions, the state is still dealing with the aftermath of the winter storm. Some homes remain without electricity, at least 10 cities in North Texas are under a boil water order and buildings are damaged.

    In addition, most school districts and vaccine clinics remain closed Friday in an effort to conserve electricity. A handful of organizations are also hosting food and bottled water distribution the next few days to help those in need.

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