News

ERCOT comes out of emergency operations today; Austin Energy continues restoration efforts

February 19, 2021

With improving grid conditions, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) — the Texas grid manager — ended emergency conditions Friday, Feb. 19. Electric utilities across the state, including Austin Energy, are working quickly and safely to fix outages caused by the severe winter weather.

While the sun is out today and temperatures are rising, cold and icy conditions continue to affect the Austin area and Austin Energy’s electrical equipment. Some customers may still experience power outages related to the winter storm and full restoration may take several days. 

All available Austin Energy crews are working to safely restore power. We have made great progress on getting households back online; as of 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 19, we have about 21,000 customers without power.

Why is full power restoration going to take several days?

Working through the system and identifying issues from the severe winter weather will take time. Many of the customers who are still without power have issues such as trees on power lines, equipment that needs to be replaced, etc. This process takes time and must be done carefully. Crews are still dealing with ice on vegetation, ice on power lines and ice on equipment, which slows down the restoration work.

What if I don’t see my outage on the map?

If you don't see your outage reflected on the Outage Map, this may be an instance where the original outage has been resolved, but other issues exist, preventing restoration at your location. If your outage shows up as restored on the outage map but you still do not have power, please call 512-322-9100.

How You Can Help as We Restore Power 

If you are currently without power, you can help us avoid overloaded circuits and additional outages when power comes back on by:

  • Turning off your thermostats.  
  • Turning off light fixtures and unplugging any appliances  
  • Only leaving on one light to indicate when the power is back on.  

For those with power, conservation continues to help. You can:

  • Keep your thermostat at 68 degrees or lower, if possible. 
  • Keep doors and windows closed to minimize hot air from escaping the home. 
  • Unplug nonessential electronics as they still draw current. 
  • Avoid using large appliances.

Please continue to monitor Austin Energy on Twitter, Facebook and our website for updates.