Californians, Texans Encouraged to Conserve Electricity as Intense Heat Waves May Cause Power Shortages

The harmful heat that has blanketed most of the western United States has provided Californians with an excuse to put off washing the dishes and laundry until Thursday.

Rolling blackouts across California during a heat wave last August left more than 350,000 people without power in the late hours. The outages were the first since 2001.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Texas' major power system operator, advised residents to conserve electricity earlier this week to avert blackouts amid the heat wave.

The request comes only four months after the devastating Winter Storm Uri knocked down power to millions of homes and businesses.

Texas Power Plants

Several power plants in Texas are presently being repaired. According to Bloomberg, the number of generators down is three times what authorities expect for this time of year.

During a briefing, Warren Lasher, a senior director for ERCOT, remarked, "This is quite disturbing." "It's unclear why there are so many units that aren't working."

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