Close to 40% of Austin residents without power amid winter storm
By Bridget Spencer, FOX 7 Austin Digital Team and John Krinjak
Published
Many Austin Energy customers without power for hours
Nearly 40% of Austin Energy customers are without power and many haven t had had since 2 a.m. this morning. FOX 7 Austin s Bridget Spencer finds officials are working to restore power but it may not happen until tomorrow.
AUSTIN, Texas - FOX 7 Austin has confirmed that close to 40% of Austin residents are without power amid a winter storm that hit Central Texas.
Officials say that due to the severity of the weather and condition of the electric grid that outages are lasting longer than the expected duration.
UPDATE: As of 7 am Tuesday, February 16, more than 215,000 people are without power. Austin Energy said the state is still not allowing it to restore power t
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The state corporation in control of Texas electric grid asked Austin Energy and other providers Tuesday morning to shed more power, underscoring the gravity of the ongoing electricity situation. But local officials warned that doing so could mean pulling the plug on circuits used to power critical infrastructure such as hospitals and emergency response stations.
In an interview with the American-Statesman, Austin City Council Member Leslie Pool said the city pushed back against the request from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Pool said she was briefed on the request by an assistant city attorney who was part of the conversation with the agency, commonly known as ERCOT.
A snow-covered street in Austin s Hyde Park neighborhood.
Nearly 190,000 Austin Energy customers may remain without power through Tuesday as temperatures remain below freezing. General Manager Jackie Sargent called the situation “unprecedented in a Monday morning news conference.
Austin Energy says it takes its direction from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which advised rotating outages earlier Monday morning. But Austin Energy can no longer do the rotating outages because it’s already cut off power – or shed load – on all available circuits that don’t include some kind of critical need, like hospitals.
“We’re stuck here until we can get some reprieve from ERCOT,” says Sargent.