With supply still too low, Centerpoint tries new strategy: Spread the Houston outages around

[Klaralven]

With electricity supply still far too low to restore service to all customers, CenterPoint Energy has adopted a new strategy, an executive said Tuesday afternoon: spreading outages around.

The change is aimed at restoring power for some customers who have been without it for almost 48 hours by shifting sustained outages to those who have so far had service, said Jason Ryan, the utility’s senior vice president for regulatory affairs.

“We’ve been focusing on the customers who have been bearing the burden of this event from the beginning starting about 1:30 a.m. (Monday), and working through the list to transfer those outages who haven’t yet,” Ryan said at a news conference.

...

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo urged ERCOT not to make overly rosy predictions about when power may be restored to more than 4 million customers across the state.

She said Houston-area residents should prepare to make do without electricity for several more days, even after temperatures warm, because power plants may need more time to rebound.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/With-supply-still-too-low-Centerpoint-tries-new-15955491.php

[captain queeg]

1. That's what they do in other countries when there is a shortage of power

Rolling blackouts. Give people power for a few hours so they can warm their home, run their refrigerators, charge computers and phones. Then drop them for a few hours and give someone else some power for awhile.

[roamer65]

2. Good recipe to fry out refrigerators, freezers, etc.

If you don’t need it, unplug it folks.