DALLAS – There are blackouts happening across northern Texas and the state. The Texas grid operator commissioned them because there was so much demand for electricity in the record cold.
The Texas Electric Reliability Council or ERCOT ordered continuous interruptions starting around 1:30 am on Monday, when it reached its highest level of emergency alert.
This means that providers are intentionally cutting power to select neighborhoods for 15 to 45 minutes at a time. Some FOX 4 viewers are reporting outages for much longer than that.
This also means that traffic lights and other infrastructure are being temporarily disrupted.
RELATED: Teams monitoring North Texas highways, drivers are encouraged to stay home if possible
ERCOT said the supply of natural gas to the plants is being limited and some wind turbines are frozen. So tracking the amount of energy used in Texas is even more difficult.
Texas set a new winter record for energy demand on Sunday night, breaking a record set three years ago.
With the expectation that temperatures will revolve around one digit throughout the morning, demand will remain high.
RELATED: North Texas receives several inches of snow, with single-digit temperatures expected on Monday morning
ERCOT is asking Texans to conserve as much energy as possible.
There are some crucial things you can do, like keeping the thermostat set to 20 degrees, avoiding using large appliances, and turning off lights and non-essential appliances.
If you lose energy, some things you can do to conserve heat are to close blinds and curtains, place towels or rags in cracks under the doors, and close rooms that are not being used.