TEXAS, USA — Once again Texans braced themselves for cold weather this winter as an arctic blast has covered most of the united states. This latest severe weather crisis has caused panic about losing power like in 2021, but there are some major differences between grid failure and local outages.
“Really what you would have to see there to see any rolling blackouts is for demand to go up and for some reason, supply of generation and power available to go down. And that can happen for a myriad of reasons,” BTU Public Information Officer Meagan Brown said.
Unlike the grid failure in 2021 that killed hundreds and left millions without power, so far the Brazos Valley has only seen a handful of local outages.
“Here locally those outages or distribution outages typically, and those, what we've experienced at least have been caused by just high winds," Brown said. "You know, high winds knocking down powerlines or knocking down trees.”
If you do lose power this weekend, the best things you can do are:
- Check local weather reports
- Prevent power overloads and fire hazards
- Remember to not use a gas stove to heat your home
- Also remember to not use outdoor stoves indoors for heating or cooking
“If you're a BTU customer, we have AMI or smart meters as folks were referred to that. So your meter sends us a signal as soon as it loses power," Brown said. "So we are notified right away. You don't have to call us and let us know.”
Rolling blackouts affect the entire ERCOT region, which covers the majority of the Lone Star State. When your neighborhoods, towns, or cities experience an outage, the problem is more likely local.