Most customers are subject to varying disruptions when the winter weather persists

SAN ANTONIO – About two-thirds of CPS Energy grids will continue to have rotating outages for the next 24 to 48 hours due to unprecedented demand amid freezing conditions expected to continue in the coming days, officials said Monday.

CPS Energy updated media outlets Monday afternoon, hours after the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said the state’s rotating power outages will continue through Tuesday.

Paula Gold-Williams, president and CEO of CPS Energy, said the goal is to try and run outages in 15-minute increments. But with high demand, combined with a reduced ability to generate power as a result of the freeze, she acknowledged the results were inconsistent.

Some customers have reported longer outages, with power returning only a few minutes at a time.

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“We take in all the information we can and try to troubleshoot,” said Gold-Williams.

Most of the disruptions that San Antonio residents experience are due to the rotations. Some customers will be without power for longer due to other factors, such as equipment outages, Gold-Williams said. About a third of the grid will continue to have power because certain circuits feed critical services, such as a hospital or police.

Typically, CPS Energy sees peak energy demand in the summer when the hottest temperatures start. But this ice storm has exceeded the summer’s demand, Gold-Williams said.

Gold-Williams said crews are working around the clock to address the issues, but she said this scenario is a “very complex process.”

Without the rolling blackouts, entire grids would be taken offline, leaving them without power indefinitely, Gold-Williams said.

Officials are asking customers to keep saving energy while they do have power, in an effort to stabilize the system more quickly.

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