DALLAS – There are persistent power outages in North Texas and the state. Texas’ electricity network provider ordered them because there was too much demand for electricity in the cold.
The Electric Reliability Board of Texas or ERCOT instructed that the outages begin around 1:30 a.m. Monday when they reached the highest emergency alarm level.
This means that providers intentionally select neighborhoods for 15 to 45 minutes at a time. However, some FOX 4 viewers report that the interruptions are much longer.
It also means that traffic lights and other infrastructure are temporarily cut off.
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ERCOT said the supply of natural gas to power plants is limited and some wind turbines are frozen. So it’s even harder to keep up with the amount of power used in Texas.
Texas set a new winter record for energy demand on Sunday night, setting a record three years ago.
As the temperature is expected to hang around single digits during the morning, demand will remain high.
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ERCOT calls on Texans to save as much power as possible.
There are some important things you can do, such as keeping your thermostat at 68 degrees, avoiding the use of large appliances, and turning off non-essential lights and appliances.
If you do lose power, you can close blinds and curtains, put towels or rags in the cracks under the doors and close the unused rooms.