ERCOT, Oncor announce end to Texas’ rolling blackouts, but some power outages remain

Jack Howland

ERCOT and Oncor announced early Thursday they stopped rolling blackouts across the state, though some customers may continue to experience power outages due to damaged equipment.

As of 9 a.m., around 35,000 customers in Tarrant County and 23,000 in Dallas County were without power, according to Oncor’s outage map. About 150,000 Texans are awaiting power due in part to damage from Wednesday’s winter storm, which dropped 1 to 3 inches of snow in Dallas-Fort Worth, Oncor said in a Twitter thread Thursday morning. There was also some damage from earlier storms and damage caused by record low temperatures.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas on Wednesday directed Oncor and other utilities to begin restoring power dropped from the electric grid, Oncor said. As a result of “increased generation and stable demand,” Oncor said, the agency stopped controlled rotating outages Thursday.

Oncor stated, in its Twitter thread, “Our personnel will continue working 24/7 to restore power to remaining customers.”

“We recognize the hardships this power emergency has caused our customers & communities,” Oncor said. “We appreciate their patience as we awaited the return of electric generation & protected by the TX electric grid.”

ERCOT declared Texas was at its highest energy emergency level on Monday, with people across the state cranking up heat due to record low temperatures. That’s when ERCOT announced rotating outages would begin.

ERCOT said in a news release Thursday morning the agency made “significant progress overnight” to bring back customer’s power. ERCOT Senior Director of System Operations Dan Woodfin said in the release, “We will keep working around the clock until every single customer has their power back on.”

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