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How the upcoming summer season will affect your way of living

ERCOT is urging customers to conserve energy. That may not be that easy.

BRYAN, Texas — We are under yet another energy conservation notice by ERCOT. This time, during the hottest time in texas.

This is the second time this year ERCOT has asked Texans to conserve energy, but BTU Energy Account Manager Meagan Brown said besides the February storm, calls for conservation in the summer are normal.

Now, the energy conservation notice in April was something that's not common.

Brown said March and April are typical months for generators to get their regularly scheduled maintenance work done, but typically you shouldn’t see scheduled maintenance in the summer so this event is different.

"They're saying those are unplanned outages so that means something broke and they're having to repair it and so there's more out now than there typically would be but that's what's causing that tighter grid this week," she said.

Brown said things you can do to help conserve energy while saving you some dough includes turning off unnecessary lights, turn your thermostat up 2 to 3 degrees and if you have to do the dishes or laundry, try to start those machines either in the morning or late evening.

 "If you're using your washer and dryer, adding heat and humidity. If you're using your dishwasher, adding heat and humidity and then your air conditioning has to make up for that and cool it down even more," Brown said. "So, if you could try to do those, I usually turn my dishwasher on before I go to bed at night."

Another great way to conserve electricity is to get out of your house and go enjoy the great outdoors...

KAGS Chief Meteorologist Dr. Christopher Nunley said if you do go outside, make sure you hydrate, wear light-colored and thin clothing, take frequent breaks, don’t forget to put on that sunscreen and like Chris always said, protect your pets.

"You don’t want to walk them on the asphalt or the pavement because when the air temperatures are in the 90s the pavement could be hotter than 150 degrees so that can actually burn the paws of your pet.” Dr.Nunley said.

Nunley said if you can’t hold your hand on the ground for more than a few seconds, then that’s a good indicator that it’s too hot for your pet.

Over the past week, temperatures have been over 5 degrees hotter than normal for this time of the year. Dr. Nunley said that’s because the energy conservation notice released by ERCOT is asking all Texans to reduce their electricity use until Friday, June 18.

“With that upper high, you have sinking air and that sinking air leads to sunshine and really warm temperatures, so that’s why we’ve seen such hot temperatures here," Dr. Nunley said. "If you go out West, there have been temperatures all across parts of Utah, Nevada, as well as parts of Arizona due to that centered upper-level high there keeping those temperatures so hot.”

For updates on the power grid, you can download ERCOT's app and get alerts.

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