ERCOT

Throughout the state, summer is a time of intense electric usage, especially through the week, between 3 and 7 p.m. In addition to this being the hottest part of the day, it’s also when people are arriving home from work and school and are cranking down the AC, turning on the TV, starting dinner, running the dishwasher and so forth.

Power shortages between generators and suppliers do happen across the Texas grid. High energy demand at the local level usually don’t have much impact statewide; however, an all-at-once spike in demand across the Texas grid that approaches or exceeds total, statewide capacity can have serious consequences for availability. Such spikes are a very real threat during the height of Texas summer. One of ERCOTS’s most important tools for helping restrain summertime usage across the grid is known as the four coincidental peaks (4CP).

You may have read about the four yearly coincidental peaks in The GVEC Review or here on our blog. The 4CPs occur one per month every June, July, August and September. These peaks happen when demand for electricity across the statewide grid reaches its highest point. ERCOT bases the next year’s share of transmission costs for each Texas provider on the provider’s share of grid demand during these four peaks. It’s important, then, for each consumer within a provider’s territory to restrain usage as much as possible during 4CPs to keep rates down.

As a way to help our members reduce usage during the 4CPs, GVEC has partnered with ecobee and Nest® to offer Peak-Time Payback, our latest and most rewarding peak-time usage program. For more information on how you can help reduce GVEC’s overall grid demand during ERCOT’s 4CPs—and get paid doing it—visit our Peak-Time Payback page or our March 2019 blog about the Nest Thermostat®.

Conservation Alert

At this level, ERCOT aims to raise public awareness about shrinking reserves and the need to actively conserve energy to prevent emergency conditions.

Emergency Alerts

Level 1: The first EEA level is Conservation Needed. ERCOT issues this alert when operating reserves drop below a target threshold. This level puts providers on notice to take preliminary measures to curb demand before the situation worsens.

Level 2: If conditions worsen, ERCOT will next issue an EEA Level 2 – Conservation Critical. At this level, providers are permitted to reduce their power load by interrupting supply to large commercial and industrial accounts. The contracts these clients sign stipulate that such measures may be necessary in an emergency.

Level 3: If power supply declines further, ERCOT will then declare an EEA Level 3 – Rotating Outages in Progress, the final alert level. At this level, ERCOT will require electricity providers throughout the state to begin introducing temporary outages at the local distribution level—also known as rolling brownouts or rotating outages.

In the last decade, solar and wind power have emerged as a serious force in the energy marketplace, driving electricity prices steadily downward. Natural gas has also become a factor in energy prices in certain places around the country, including in the ERCOT North hub. New technologies have driven energy prices so low, in fact, that investing in new generation assets has become less economically practical for producers. Many companies are either delaying or canceling new generation projects until the market becomes more favorable.

These market factors, combined with Texas’ ongoing economic and population growth, have created an environment where electricity demand significantly increases each year at a pace faster than reserve energy can be generated. It’s important to note that, no matter how much power that suppliers purchase from their producers, it’s impossible to fill the demand if total generation and reserve capacity across the statewide grid can’t keep up with what consumers use.

Use fans when you’re home, but turn them off when you leave the room. Although fans don’t lower the room temperature, they make your skin feel 4 to 6 degrees cooler, allowing you to set your thermostat temperature higher.