Want to help blacked-out Texans? Californians are being asked to conserve electricity

Though they’re half a country away, Californians can help bring relief to Texans gripped by blackouts by conserving electricity.

The California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s power grid, issued an advisory Tuesday asking Californians to ease off on electricity use to help people thousands of miles away.

“California and other states typically rely on each other via energy imports and exports,” the ISO said in a statement posted on social media. “So conserving electricity in California can relieve stress on the grid elsewhere in the US.

“We’re going to be encouraging voluntary conservation over the next several days of freezing weather in the Midwest and South, to help relieve stress on electricity grids there. Energy conservation during the evening hours can potentially help free up supply for those in states experiencing severe weather conditions.”

The ISO’s request represented an informal call for conservation, unlike the “flex alerts” declared in hot weather with specific requests for adjusting thermostats and turning off major appliances.

A vicious storm has left more than 4 million Texans without power and sent officials scrambling for explanations about what went wrong with the state’s power grid. Although some Republican officials were blaming frozen wind turbines, many experts were pointing to natural gas pipelines that froze and an overly deregulated energy system that left the state vulnerable.

In California last August, a major heat wave was the main culprit behind two nights of rolling blackouts, the first time that’s happened in the state in nearly 20 years. Critics also blamed California’s heavy dependence on solar and wind power, although Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration said the state wouldn’t retreat from its commitment to renewable energy sources.

This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Want to help blacked-out Texans? Californians are being asked to conserve electricity."