ERCOT Holding Town Hall Meetings To Address Power Grid Concerns Before Winter
CARROLLTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — During November, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is hosting town hall meetings to address residents' concerns and answer questions about winterization preps and the electric grid's reliability this winter.
RELATED: ERCOT Interim CEO In North Texas To 'Rebuild Trust' After February Storm-Related Power Outages
The state's power grid operator has been under a microscope after millions were left in the dark last February and now officials are trying to regain trust as we near the winter months. Carrollton's mayor, Kevin Falconer, says about ¾ of the city's residents had extended power outages. That is about 100 thousand people.
"Like everyone in Texas, we don't want to experience this again," Falconer said. "Trust is easy to lose and hard to build and many of us lost a lot of trust in the system [and] in ERCOT."
ERCOT's interim CEO, Brad Jones, participated in a similar event Monday night in Coppell.
He says the Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted a rule that requires power companies to use their best efforts to ensure that plants can operate in the winter.
This includes weatherization, structural preparations, staffing plans, onsite fuel security, and operational readiness. Jones says if they don't there will be consequences.
"If they fail to appropriately weatherize we will report them to the public utility commission and they may take action and find them as much as $1 million per instance per day," Jones said.
The meeting kicks off at 5:45 p.m. at Carrollton City Hall, located at 1945 East Jackson Road.
