Southwest Power Pool Returns to Energy Emergency Alert Level 2

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At around 6 p.m. on Monday, February 15th, Southwest Power Pool, the transmission grid supplying Lubbock Power & Light's electric grid, returned to Energy Emergency Level 2.

Earlier in the morning, SPP elevated to Energy Emergency Alert Level 3, the highest threat level.

Due to the extreme cold weather, energy deficiencies have been created in the SPP region, and at around 1 p.m., SPP instructed LP&L to enact a brief rotating outage that affected about 1,000 customers. The outage only last 15 minutes, but still assisted in alleviated strain on the regional electric grid.

Electric utilities across the area are continuing to urge that customers reduce energy use with cold temperatures still affecting the region and energy demand being at record levels. Reducing energy use could help prevent the need for controlled rotating outages.

David McCalla, Executive Director for LP&L, said:

This is an ongoing record weather event, bringing some of the coldest temperatures we’ve seen in 40 years [...] This has put a strain on grids across the state, including our region, and today we’re asking our customers to please do what they can to reduce their electric use for the stability of the overall grid.

The City of Lubbock is also enacting measures for the morning of Tuesday, February 16th to reduce the electric consumption for all city-owned facilities.

LP&L will continue to monitor weather and grid conditions and will update customers with new information as it's made available.