ERCOT asks Austin Energy to shed additional power

McLovin327

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Sep 21, 2005
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11:40am Feb 16 update

The state corporation in control of Texas' electric grid asked Austin Energy and other providers Tuesday morning to shed more power, underscoring the gravity of the on-going electricity situation, but local officials warned that doing so could mean pulling the plug on circuits used to power critical infrastructure such as hospitals and emergency response stations.

In an interview with the American-Statesman, Council Member Leslie Pool said the city pushed back against the request from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Pool said she was briefed on the request by an assistant city attorney who was part of the conversation with the agency, which is commonly known as ERCOT.

"They may have to turn off the circuits for emergency infrastructure," Pool said. "We have literally shed everything that we can."


ERCOT spokesman Andrew Barlow confirmed Pool's account, adding the request was not Austin-specific but that providers statewide were asked to "curtail load." Barlow said power that had been restored late Monday statewide was reduced after facilities that typically generate electricity were unable to do so because of freezing temperatures and weather-related conditions.

Barlow said he did not immediately know how much power ERCOT was asking the city to take offline.
 
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"They may have to turn off the circuits for emergency infrastructure," Pool said. "We have literally shed everything that we can."

With 60% of the City still having power there's no way this should be the case.
That is what Austin Energy has been saying the whole time. Apparently these circuits are not all that granular.
 
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little confused on how the attorney general is responsible for the electricificationary grid

Why does that matter? Abbott, Patrick and the House leadership obviously aren’t going to accept an ounce of responsibility for decisions made over the past decade.

They will of course try to blame the Democrats, but they will have a hard time finding a Democrat with any statewide power. Paxton is an embarrassment, second only to Allen West. So they will be happy to find a reason, any reason, for him to take the fall.
 
Why does that matter? Abbott, Patrick and the House leadership obviously aren’t going to accept an ounce of responsibility for decisions made over the past decade.

They will of course try to blame the Democrats, but they will have a hard time finding a Democrat with any statewide power. Paxton is an embarrassment, second only to Allen West. So they will be happy to find a reason, any reason, for him to take the fall.

Every major city in Texas is controlled by Democrats. I too don't get how Paxton takes the fall for power generation decisions.
 
"They may have to turn off the circuits for emergency infrastructure," Pool said. "We have literally shed everything that we can."

With 60% of the City still having power there's no way this should be the case.
There's no way 60% have power. I only know 2 people with power out of ~20 homes.
 

😂 immediately after that call they are called to testify in House State Affairs next week. I assume the legislators didn’t like what they heard.

Heads will roll. I hope large city transmission regulators get torched for how bad they bumbled the outages, especially after seeing all of Downtown Austin lit up like the Vegas strip.
 
Abbott, Patrick, and pretty much the entire House and Senate leadership.


The fact of the matter is at its roots the public is too blame. We wanted cheaper utilities rates and less governmental regulation. This is a result of that. But the second things go back people run back to the government looking for help and to assign blame. Then when changes are made and rates go up, people will bitch again.
 
😂 immediately after that call they are called to testify in House State Affairs next week. I assume the legislators didn’t like what they heard.

Heads will roll. I hope large city transmission regulators get torched for how bad they bumbled the outages, especially after seeing all of Downtown Austin lit up like the Vegas strip.