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Houston, June 15 (IANS) The power grid operator in Texas has asked the residents of the US state to reduce energy use as much as possible due to the record high temperatures.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued a conservation alert on Monday, asking people and businesses to reduce their electric use as much as possible for the rest of the week to avoid power outages, reports Xinhua news agency.

ERCOT predicted a peak demand of energy on its system of 73,000 megawatts, far above the June record of 69,123 megawatts set on June 27, 2018.

However, about 11,000 megawatts of the grid's 86,862 megawatts of generating capacity was offline on Monday, ERCOT said, leaving a margin of reserve capacity of about 3,000 megawatts.

Much of Texas is experiencing record high temperatures as temperatures in cities like Austin and Houston are over 37 degrees Celsius.

Monday's conservation request comes at a time of heightened anxiety around electricity after the state's catastrophic February power outages left millions without power for days, The Texas Tribunes reported.

Those outages were prompted by a severe winter storm.

--IANS
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Update: 15-June-2021