The unprecedented cold weather and subsequent power and utility outages impacting Texas have created a dire situation for millions of people across the state. We hold great concern for our neighbors, customers, partners, and colleagues who are affected, and we are grateful for our more than 750 Texas power generation employees who are working tirelessly to help our community through this emergency.
Our work to prepare for winter conditions began well before the onset of frigid temperatures. Part of this effort includes a winter readiness program, a comprehensive review of all our plants shared with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Ahead of this week’s event, we increased our available generating capacity by bringing back nearly 2,000 MWs of power generation typically reserved only for summer months, when demand is historically highest. We also added over two dozen experienced employees from other regions to support our Texas staff, helping maintain every asset through this time of need. We continue to work with the PUCT, ERCOT, Railroad Commission of Texas, our partners, and customers, and we are grateful for the thousands of people working hard on this massive gas and power restoration effort.
As an integrated power company, our customer operations also play a role in supporting the grid during times of crisis. We are working to help our customers proactively manage their demand by encouraging conservation and pushing alerts to mobile devices. We are also activating load reduction programs for those who participate. We appreciate our largest commercial and industrial customers working with us to ramp down operations to preserve available capacity.
The reality of these extraordinary weather conditions is stressing our natural gas and power infrastructure like never before. The impact to the natural gas infrastructure has limited supply to homes and power generators alike. Power generation from fossil, renewable, and nuclear sources were all affected by the cold, as were certain transmission and distribution capabilities. When the current situation has come to pass, we will conduct a full review of our procedures, as we do with all operations-impacting events. We will also give our full support to those examining contributing factors in the larger context of this crisis and will work with all stakeholders to address them.
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