The College Station city council learned at its last meeting what the city’s electric utility is doing to prepare for the winter.
Director Timothy Crabb was asked if the operator of the state’s power grid is ready if there is another winter storm like Uri that led to rolling blackouts in February of last year. Crabb said “I guess my view is, if it was 110 degrees for 50 something days in New York, they’d probably be talking about how they’re not prepared.”
City manager Bryan Woods said “Whether we can handle a statewide kind of disaster again, I think we’ll do better but I don’t know. I hope we don’t have to find out.”
Woods said what made Uri so different is that it impacted the entire state at the same time, as opposed to a hurricane or another weather event that impacted only a portion of Texas.
The manager also said that there has been significant work to improve electric service during the winter, and more will continue to be done.
Crabb says ERCOT is requiring more paperwork from local providers, including an emergency operations plan.
Click below to hear comments from the October 27, 2022 College Station city council meeting.