Dallas (1080 KRLD) - The heat is finally hitting North Texas, and ERCOT says it's already time to conserve.
ERCOT says demand is outpacing supply as temperatures soar into the triple digits in some parts of the state.
So the agency is asking Texans to conserve energy starting today through Friday.
Leslie Sopko with ERCOT says they are seeing three to four times as many forced outages this year than they normal because many need repairs. "We are reaching out to generation servers to determine why we have so many outages and working with them to ensure they can bring their plants back up as soon as possible."
Over 12,000 megawatts are offline currently. Just one megawatt can power around 200 homes.
Back in March ERCOT said they wouldn't have a problem with summer demand, despite the deadly winter storm in February that left millions without power.
Under the conservation alert, ERCOT is asking residential consumers to:
- Set thermostat to 78 degrees or higher
- Close drapes and blinds
- Turn off and unplug nonessential devices
- Avoid using larger appliances like ovens or washing machines
Businesses are also being asked to minimize their lighting and use of electric equipment, and large consumers should shut down or reduce non-essential production, according to ERCOT.
ERCOT added that every degree of cooling Texans use increases their energy use by 6 to 8%.
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