Sam Houston Electric Cooperative says it is being forced to reduce the power load on the western side of its system.
Currently there are outages in San Jacinto, Montgomery, Polk, Walker, Trinity, Angelina and Tyler counties. Some of these outages are due to ice and snow, and not part of the planned interruptions of service. Liberty and Hardin counties are reporting only one outage in each county as of 9 a.m. Monday.
Sam Houston EC posted a statement regarding its planned outages that reads, “Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) is requiring us to reduce load on the western side of our system. Our hope is to keep interruptions to a half-hour, then restore power and roll to another area if required to do so. There are other areas where outages have been caused by ice and snow. Crews are accessing those areas and making repairs as conditions are safe to do so.”
You can do your part to prevent more outages during this historic storm.
“Taking small steps to conserve energy during extreme cold helps with grid reliability. It also reduces the amount of electricity consumed, and that saves money on your energy bill,” the statement continues.
These steps include:
- Turn down thermostats to 68 degrees or lower.
- Close shades and blinds to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows.
- If you feel a draft around a door or window, roll a towel and use that to block the draft.
- Turn off and unplug non-essential lights and appliances.
- Remember to use space heaters carefully- they can overheat or overload a circuit. They also can use a great deal of energy in a short amount of time.
East Montgomery County/ New Caney area has been without electricity for most of Monday. Please get families help.
I have not had power since 2:30 yesterdayj.
Royal Forest subdivision without power since 2:30yesterday. Please advise if we are going to get power any time soon. Old and cant take another night of freezing.
Living Fred area
Very cold