Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said “no one can guarantee” power outages won’t happen again as the state prepares for freezing and inclement weather, despite previous assurances the grid had been upgraded and fixed.
Abbott held a press conference on Tuesday alongside officials from the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to address the electrical grid’s reliability as part of the state prepares for freezing temperatures.
The National Weather Service warned of freezing rain and cold temperatures beginning Wednesday afternoon in central Texas, bringing at least 2 inches of sleet and snow with it.
And while the governor noted that each of the state’s agencies will be on call during the inclement weather to try and “robustly respond” to any needs during the freeze, he admitted he could not guarantee that “load shed” events will not occur.
If you’re looking to track or report outages, here are a few resources that let you do that in real-time, below:
- PowerOutage.us: This website tracks outages across the country at the county level. The vast majority of Texas providers tracked by the site were showing outages.
- Oncor Outage Map: This site from the state’s largest electricity provider offers information on active outages along with real-time updates about “controlled outages” directed by ERCOT, the organization that oversees the power grid.