Dear Neighbors,

I know that much of the district and the city are currently experiencing power outages and that solid information is frustratingly hard to come by. I am writing to provide what updates I can.

We are currently experiencing a statewide event and Austin Energy must operate under the direction of ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas which operates the electric grid for most of the state. Austin Energy is required to cut back on power by closing off circuits across our system. Several hundred thousand people are currently without power. Some AE circuits remain on because they power essential services like hospitals. At this point the load that AE must drop per ERCOT is such that there are no circuits remaining that can be used to rotate the load and bring some circuits back online. What this means is that contrary to the alerts from yesterday, the blackouts experienced today are not rotating as originally intended.

The Austin Energy Outage Map at outagemap.austinergy.com shows how widespread the current power outages are. Note that controlled outages are combined with unplanned outages (due to tree limbs etc.) on this map and to meet ERCOT requirements.

The outages are likely to continue through the night and possibly through tomorrow.

Ways to Help: There are a few important things that we can do to help our community navigate this crisis.

If you have power, we need you to conserve energy as much as possible to reduce the load on the system. This is a very serious request. Your actions can help us balance the load so we can restore power as soon as possible. See tips below on how to do so.

If you do not have power, you can help us not overwhelm the system when power comes back on. Please lower your thermostats, shut off or unplug any fixtures that are connected and only leave a light on to know when the power is back on. This way when power is on we can gradually add to the load. If everyone has all electronics on and a house is re-energized the surge can overwhelm the system causing circuits to trip back out.

Please check on your home-bound neighbors and seniors. If their power goes out, they may not have an easy way to contact others. Please offer help to them if you can during this time.

Last I knew 311 is currently out, but 911 is functioning. We ask that 911 usage be reserved for emergencies. I do not have a full picture of whether 311 and the city website are down due to technical or power issues or whether they have been restored. We believe that our district10@austintexas.gov email is once again working.

The City has opened a cold weather center at the Palmer Events Center for those who need a place to get warm. If you or anyone you know needs shelter from the cold, call the City’s hotline at 512-305-4233. I am aware that the roads are treacherous and am working to identify whether we can open some place further north or provide transportation.

Once we navigate through the next few days we will have much work to do to improve our system’s reliability and emergency readiness. For now we must focus on the current crisis. I understand that the communications available do not meet the magnitude of the current situation and am working to improve those. I have included what I can impart in this message. There was a press conference on Facebook from the city’s Facebook page about 12:30. I have captured as much of that info here as I could.

We will continue to monitor the situation through the coming days and we will share updates as we receive them. You can follow Austin Energy and ERCOT on Twitter and Facebook.

Regards,

Alison Alter

City Council Member, District 10

I have included some additional information below.

Here are ERCOT’s recommendations for conserving energy:

•Turn your thermostat down to 68-degrees Fahrenheit

•Close your shades and blinds to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows

•Turn off and unplug non-essential lights and appliances

•Avoid using large appliances (i.e., ovens, washing machines, etc.)

•Businesses should minimize the use of electric lighting and electricity-consuming equipment as much as possible

•Large consumers of electricity should consider shutting down or reducing non-essential production processes

•Adjusting your thermostat 1-2 degrees colder

•Adjust your appliances so they are in energy-saving mode when they are in use

•Avoid accessing streaming video through your game console. Austin Energy said your gaming console can can use ten times more energy to stream a movie than a Roku or a smart TV

•Close pet doors (and of course bring your pets inside before you do so!)

•Try to keep refrigerator and freezer doors shut as much as possible to reduce their energy use

•Lower the temperature on your water heater from 140 degrees to 120 degrees

I received the following information from another council member and it might be useful background:

The State of Texas is quite literally in a catastrophic power situation. All cities are REQUIRED to shed load when ERCOT tells them to shed load. Austin's load shed is so great that it has completely used up every available circuit.

Austin Energy is doing everything possible to maintain and protect our critical infrastructure (e.g., hospitals). Until ERCOT manages to balance things out at their end there is literally no way for us to bring circuits back.

Our emergency response folks are figuring out how to case manage those who are vulnerable. But even that is tricky given road conditions.

Cold Weather Shelters:

The City of Austin, Travis County, and community partners have activated cold weather shelters (City and County Prepare for Severe Weather | AustinTexas.gov), which will operate 24 hours a day for as long as conditions dictate. Individuals sheltering will be offered the opportunity to remain during the day and a place to stay overnight. The Palmer Events Center has been activated as a daytime warming center, located at 900 Barton Springs Road. We will post any related updates on my Facebook page (Alison Alter for Austin | Facebook).