Three years after ‘the freeze,’ we probe Texans’ faith in their grid – By Henry Gass & Mackenzie Farkus (CS Monitor) / March 1, 2024
The Texas power grid is more reliable now than it was in 2021, when a massive winter power failure plunged the state into a deep freeze. But officials are finding that restoring trust is a long-term process. Our Texas-based writer wanted to assess progress – and evolving customer sentiment – on the ground.
Texans still call it “the freeze.”
Before February 2021, few of them knew the details of how electricity flowed around the state. Then it stopped. A massive winter storm triggered blackouts in millions of homes. Some Texans spent days in the dark and cold. Many lost water. More than 200 lost their lives. By Feb. 18, 2021, everyone in Texas knew the name of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) – and that they couldn’t trust it.
When the Monitor began leaning in on “trust” as an area of focus, I knew that what had transpired in the three years since was worth reporting on. ERCOT doesn’t bill anyone or provide any electricity directly to consumers. It simply manages the flow of electricity around the Texas power grid. Since the blackout, the grid – which ERCOT oversees – has undergone significant changes. The Lone Star State has also experienced more extreme weather without the kind of widespread system failure seen during the 2021 storm.
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