State officials are asking residents to limit the use of energy and natural gas resources from Sunday to Thursday, as the approaching winter storm is expected to cause great demand on the Texas grid.
Residents are asked to adjust their thermostats up to 68 degrees, close their blinds and curtains, disconnect unused items and limit the use of washing machines and dishwashers during the morning and evening peak hours.
In response to extreme winter weather conditions, area residents may experience continuous interruptions over the next 36 hours.
Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration on Friday afternoon for all of Texas, when a major winter storm threatens to destroy the state’s power grid, power lines and roads. The Texas power grid may experience record winter electricity demand from Texans trying to stay warm this weekend, putting their capacity to the test and could result in continuous blackouts in Texas or “rotating outages”.
CoServ said in a statement on Saturday afternoon that rotating outages have not yet been ordered by the Texas Electric Reliability Council (ERCOT), which operates the power grid and manages the deregulated market for 75 percent of the state.
If ERCOT deems it necessary, customers of Oncor and other utilities in the area will experience similar interruptions.
These interruptions would last in 15-minute increments and could happen several times in a 24-hour period, according to the press release. If you signed up for outage alerts through CoServ, you will receive a text or email indicating an outage at your home. If it is a continuous outage, you will see a red box over the service territory with a red message indicating that mandatory rotary outages are in effect. For additional information on how to implement outages and how to sign up for alerts, visit http://bit.ly/3phM3ND.
CoServ has implemented its Emergency Response Plan and is asking all customers to reduce energy consumption. Additional updates will be posted on the CoServ website at www.coserv.com.
The continuous interruptions are related to the snowstorm that is approaching northern Texas, which is under a winter storm alert until Monday night. The National Meteorological Service predicts that the winter mix will start around midnight and transition to snow on Sunday morning. Heavy snow is expected between 6 pm on Sunday and 6 am on Monday, followed by dangerous chills down to -16 degrees. The weather service expects a 50% chance of 4 or more inches of snow in DFW.