The state's power grid regulator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), says Texas set a new record for winter peak demand. Between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., the state was consuming 57,282 megawatts. That's almost 1,000 megawatts higher than the previous record from February 2nd.
At the same time, ERCOT is cancelling its request to consumers to reduce their energy consumption during peak hours.
“While it is always a good idea to conserve electricity when you can, we are cancelling the ‘Power Watch” at this time,” ERCOT CEO Trip Doggett said in a statement.
While we smashed the winter record, Texas still has yet to surpass its all-time peak energy demand record of 65,776 megawatts, set on August 23, 2010. On that day Austin reached 106 degrees, breaking the previous temperature record of 105 degrees from 2009.
As KUT News reported on Monday, state lawmakers say they’ll hold hearings on the rolling power outages that left thousands of Texans in the dark last week
