There are not many changes to our update. ERCOT continues to mandate outages and the state continues to lack generation capacity to meet electric needs. Medina EC is committed to serving you, and that is being made impossible until additional generation units in the state are up and running. 

In a morning update, ERCOT indicated approximately 46,000 MW of generation has been forced off the system during this event. ERCOT is releasing some capacity back to utilities, but that number is minimal when spread across the state. Warmer temperatures today did help. However, another winter blast is expected, dropping temperatures and bringing more freezing rain. Because of that, we expect this to continue through Thursday and possibly Friday. We know this is not the news anyone wants, but it is the reality of the situation.  

We share these updates in hopes that you can understand what to expect but at any moment the situation can change; we have seen that happen multiple times during that event. We know it is frustrating that we cannot give people exact times they will be without power or exact times frames they will have power, but constant changes make predictions very difficult.

We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as able. Please know that our staff is working nonstop and our top priority is our members. We are sorry you are experiencing this hardship. We ask that you continue to bear with us through this difficult time. 

How You Can Help  
When you are without power, please turn off any appliances and heating systems that were on when your outage began. When we flip the switch to bring you back online, we need the load to be as low as possible. If heaters are in the on position when the power comes back up, we run the risk of overload which can lead to additional outage times.  

Why Are Some People Not Losing Power  
Certain feeders cannot be turned off because they serve critical loads like hospitals, natural gas plants, etc. Others are left on because they’re on an emergency list that will automatically drop if the grid gets into even more critical trouble than we are seeing right now. If that happens, those loads will immediately drop to protect grid integrity. 

Why is ERCOT Continuing to Mandate Outages  

ERCOT, in their role to keep the grid reliable, cannot let the demand for electricity be greater than the supply of power available. If that was to happen, the state would experience a statewide blackout. It could damage the grid to the point of a rebuild. Instead of an uncomfortable few days without power, we could experience an uncomfortable few weeks.

To prevent that from happening, ERCOT has issued these mandated outages. All utilities in the state have to comply.

Outage Reporting
Outages can be reported by calling 1-866-632-3532 or using the SmartHub app or at MedinaEC.org. If your outage is following the pattern you have been experiencing with forced outages, please do not report it unless it does not come back on at the interval you have been used to. This will make it easier for crews to respond to members with equipment or weather related outages.

At any given time, more than 10,000 members are without power and our system is overwhelmed with calls, online traffic to our website and SmartHub app. This is why we are requesting that you do not report outages if it is following the pattern of forced outages for your location. You may experience delays, dropped calls or errors in SmartHub.

Please continue to follow our website for updates. To see the latest outage numbers and track progress, visit our outage map.