AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ grid operators say the electrical system has returned to normal for the first time since a winter storm knocked out power to more than 4 million customers.
Smaller outages still remained Friday, but the president of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) says the grid again has enough capacity to provide power throughout the entire grid.
"There is enough generation on the electric system to allow us to begin to return to more normal operating conditions," said Senior Director of System Operations Dan Woodfin in a statement.
ERCOT says it didn’t need to cut any community’s electricity overnight to keep the state’s power supply and demand in balance, and only a few generating units tripped.
The council says utility companies are continuing to address remaining outages and that customers should contact their provider if they’re without power. As of 12:15 p.m. EST Friday, more than 180,000 outages were reported across the state, according to poweroutage.us.
As electricity and heat returned to Texas homes, water problems remained as cities continued boil-water notices and repaired broken pipes and water mains.
Officials issued boil water advisories to around 7 million people, which is about a quarter of the state’s population, The Associated Press reports.