AUSTIN, TX, March 4, 2014, 9 a.m. – The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), grid operator for most of Texas, thanks electric consumers for helping maintain grid reliability by reducing their electric use yesterday and this morning.

 “Energy conservation by consumers has helped ERCOT keep generation and electric demand balanced during this extremely cold, windy weather,” said Dan Woodfin, ERCOT director of System Operations. “We appreciate this support, as well as efforts by generation and transmission companies to keep as many facilities available as possible.”

Peak demand Monday morning reached 54,549 megawatts (MW), exceeding  ERCOT’s previous March peak demand record, set in 2002, by more than 11,500 MW at a time many generators were beginning their spring maintenance outages. Hourly demand figures remained above the previous record the entire day. However, electric use over the peak periods was lower than what could be expected during temperatures like those seen in most of the ERCOT region this week, and it remained low enough to prevent an energy emergency on the ERCOT grid. Peak demand this morning was about 4,000 MW lower than Monday as temperatures began to climb in some parts of Texas.

In preparation for this week’s extreme weather, ERCOT issued an alert Sunday night encouraging conservation Monday morning and later extended the request to 9 a.m. today.

The Conservation Alert is no longer in effect. If ERCOT experiences significant reductions in available generation or other conditions that warrant additional conservation measures, consumers will be notified through the news media, the ERCOT Energy Saver mobile app, Twitter, Facebook and its website at www.ercot.com.

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The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to nearly 24 million Texas customers - representing 85 percent of the state's electric load. As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects more than 40,500 miles of transmission lines and 550 generation units. ERCOT also performs financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk-power market and administers retail switching for 6.7 million premises in competitive choice areas. ERCOT is a membership-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature.

ERCOT Media Contact: Robbie Searcy, (512) 225-7213
rsearcy@ercot.com