Energy prices spike Tuesday during unexpected high temperatures across the state
SAN ANTONIO - CPS Energy is continuing to ask customers on Wednesday to conserve energy wherever possible.
This is following the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) narrowly avoided emergency conditions on Tuesday evening.
According to CPS Energy, it is very unlikely there should be controlled outages anywhere in the San Antonio area today.
ERCOT put out the call to conserve energy across the state. There’s a number of reasons why they did that.
About 25% of the states electricity generating capacity is off-line right now for maintenance because of the February freeze and to get ready for the summer months. There were higher than forecasted temperatures in some parts of the state adding more strain on the power grid.
Cloudy conditions blocked some solar panels in West Texas and wind power was lower than expected as well.
CPS Energy told us over the phone that the utility has some plants down for annual maintenance, but there is ample supply for San Antonio customers.
“I understand the sensitivity given what we just went through," said Rudy Garza, chief customer officer, CPS Energy. "We are all still recovering and trying to move forward after an event that was really, really challenging for the entire State of Texas. But we’re going to do our part and let our customers know what’s going on.”
A screenshot from 5:30 p.m. Tuesday from ERCOT's website shows the cost of energy was very expensive, with the whole state in red.
“We are not anticipating any outages but certainly when temperatures are higher than they normally would be this time of year it it is always good to conserve.”
A comparison to a screenshot from Wednesday morning shows a huge difference. The price for energy has dropped.
But can you expect to see a spike in your CPS Energy bill because of what happened yesterday? We're looking into that for you.
Energy fellow at University of Houston, Ed Hirs says he is not surprised by the maintenance issues.
“We have been expecting maintenance problems to show up we have been expecting a lack of new generation capacity really for years the miracle is it’s gone as far as it has," he said.
Hirs also said the responsibility of pricing energy in the state should be taken away from ERCOT.
“So on the one hand they are shoving low prices back at generators most of the time but on the flipside when they are in trouble they jack up the prices and tell the customer that you just have to pay it," Hirs explained.
Currently there isn’t any legislation going through the state that would make that change.
