In a Monday press release, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) requested reduced electric use for the rest of the week. It says possible record-breaking electric use for June has strained the grid that left many Texans without power during February’s Winter Storm Uri.

“Generator owners have reported approximately 11,000 MW of generation is on forced outage for repairs; of that, approximately 8,000 MW is thermal and the rest is intermittent resources,” the release says. “According to the summer Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy, a typical range of thermal generation outages on hot summer days is around 3,600 MW. One MW typically powers around 200 homes on a summer day.”

ERCOT Vice President of Grid Planning and Operations Woody Rickerson said steps would be taken to investigate the outages already reported.

"We will be conducting a thorough analysis with generation owners to determine why so many units are out of service," said Rickerson. "This is unusual for this early in the summer season."

The release says according to generation owners, the number of outages should decrease throughout the week.

“Wind output for today is expected to be 3,500 to 6,000 MW between 3 and 9 p.m. This is roughly 1,500 MW lower than what is typically available for peak conditions. Wind output is expected to increase as the week goes on,” it says. “Today’s peak load forecast may exceed 73,000 MW. The peak demand record for June is 69,123 MW set on June 27, 2018 between 4 and 5 p.m.”

ERCOT suggested tips to reduce electric use which included

• Set your thermostat to 78 degrees or higher – every degree of cooling increases your energy use by six to eight percent.
• Turn off lights and pool pumps and avoid using large appliances like ovens, washing machines and dryers.
• If you don’t need something – we are asking you to turn it off and unplug it if possible.

To track electricity demands, ERCOT said residents can view daily peak demand forecast, current load and available generation at ercot.com, sign up for the ERCOT mobile app on the Apple App Store and Google Play, subscribe to the EmergencyAlerts list at lists.ercot.com and follow their Twitter (@ERCOT_ISO) and Facebook (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) pages.

For more information, the Public Utility Commission of Texas Hotline can be reached at 1-888-782-8477.