Texans no longer asked to hold power after ERCOT conservation appeal ends Tuesday

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A conservation appeal for Texas has ended after residents were asked to hold power for two days in a row during the early morning hours if it was safe to do so.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, thanked everyone for their conservation efforts on Tuesday.

"Thank you to Texas residents and businesses. Your conservation efforts, along with additional grid reliability tools, helped us get through record-breaking peak times (Tuesday) and (Monday) morning," ERCOT's statement read, in part.

Despite the conservation appeal ending at 9 a.m., the agency said an ERCOT Weather Watch remains in effect through Wednesday, which, according to their website, is an advance notification of forecasted significant weather with high demand.

On Monday, ABC13's Nick Natario spoke to ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas, who said they were going to do everything they could to keep the power on.

"The risk is always elevated when you have extreme weather events like this, and this is one of the coldest winter weather events that Texas has experienced," he said.

Full interview: ERCOT CEO weighs on Tuesday's energy outlook

ERCOT is asking residents to keep conserving electricity on Tuesday between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. amid continued freezing weather in the Houston area.

ERCOT's online tracker showed that grid conditions were in the yellow early Tuesday morning, which means it was experiencing some strain. But by the time the conservation appeal expired at 9 a.m., conditions were back in the green, and the grid was operating at normal conditions.

Vegas said they've been working with transmission utility companies over the last couple of years to make sure that they can roll outages so that no one is without electricity for too long.

You can monitor grid conditions on the ERCOT website.

The agency said if you are experiencing an outage, that it is local in nature and not related to grid reliability.

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