Important Information about Electricity Load Shedding
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers. ERCOT is responsible for ensuring that the supply of electricity is sufficient to meet customer demand for electricity in most of the state.
When electric supply provided by all available power generation plants, wind farms and other sources becomes insufficient to meet customer demand, ERCOT begins emergency operations. During a power emergency when electric supply cannot meet consumer demand for electricity and all other operational tools have been exhausted, the demand for electricity must be reduced to avoid uncontrollable blackouts. Typically, ERCOT takes steps to reduce the demand on the electric grid by asking customers to reduce electric usage. Customers can reduce their electricity usage by:
- Adjusting their thermostat to warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter
- Closing shades and blinds to reduce heat and cold lost through windows
- Turning off and/or unplugging non-essential lights and appliances
- Avoiding using large appliances such as ovens, washing machines and clothes dryers
- Reducing or shutting down non-essential production processes by commercial customers
As a last resort, ERCOT will instruct electric utilities to implement controlled customer outages (rolling outages) to reduce the customer demand for electricity on the ERCOT grid. This is referred to as “load shed” and will last until the power emergency is resolved by ERCOT. Fort Belknap Electric Cooperative (FBEC), as well as all other electric utilities, is obligated to immediately implement load shed procedures when ERCOT instructs. FBEC will only curtail power to its members during emergency situations that require a reduction in load to prevent the statewide electric grid or our electric system from failing or to prevent damage to equipment and property.
During customer load shed events, all customers should assume their power could go out without advanced warning. Efforts will be made, as much as possible, to provide advanced notification of pending outages, but circumstances do not always allow that to happen. Customers designated as Critical Load are not guaranteed an uninterrupted supply of electricity and have the responsibility to make necessary arrangements for alternative sources of electric power in the case of a localized outage or a load shed event occurs. Critical load customers include hospitals, hospice, assisted living and/or nursing facilities, police stations, fire stations, critical water and wastewater facilities as well as critical natural gas facilities as designated by the Railroad Commission of Texas. Operators of these facilities should contact FBEC to request designation as a Critical Load.
Residential customers dependent on electric-powered medical equipment are designated as Critical Care and are encouraged to have a solid back-up plan in the event they lose electricity. Please note that these customers are not excluded from controlled outages and may lose power during a load shed event. Anyone who depends on electricity for life-sustaining equipment should have a back-up plan in place. Customers desiring to apply to be considered a Critical Care residential customer may complete the form at FBEC’s website by clicking here.
Regardless of the nature of the load shedding event, FBEC is committed to ensuring the safe and reliable delivery of electricity to its members every minute of every day. Although we cannot control the conditions and duration of ERCOT load shed events, we will do everything in our power to restore power when we are safely able to do so. We are grateful for your trust to provide you with the energy you need, and we invite you to call our office at 940-564-3526 with any questions you may have.