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Texas Sets New Power Consumption Record, Power Watch Cancelled

Warm weather is ahead, but patches of ice remain. The cold weather prompted Texans to set a new winter power consumption record, according to ERCOT.
Photo by Nathan Bernier for KUT News
Warm weather is ahead, but patches of ice remain. The cold weather prompted Texans to set a new winter power consumption record, according to ERCOT.

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

Nathan Bernier is the transportation reporter at KUT. He covers the big projects that are reshaping how we get around Austin, like the I-35 overhaul, the airport's rapid growth and the multibillion-dollar transit expansion Project Connect. He also focuses on the daily changes that affect how we walk, bike and drive around the city. Got a tip? Email him at nbernier@kut.org. Follow him on X @KUTnathan.
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