February 16th, local media reported by local media, as of 9:40 a.m. Eastern time on February 16, the large-scale winter storm that recently swept across the United States had caused power outages for more than 5.5 million households, and power supply companies were forced to implement rolling power outages.
Among them, Texas was the most affected, with nearly 4,307,010 households without power.
According to local media reports, Texas’s power grid is designed with only the local hot summer climate, so it is particularly affected by the cold winter weather.
Southwest Power Company (SPP), which is responsible for managing the power grid in 14 states from North Dakota to Oklahoma, announced on the 16th that it would carry out rolling outages the next day.
In a statement, Lanny Nickell, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Southwest Electric, said that the move was a “last resort”, and the company had never reached this point before.
This is our last move. Despite the burden on our subsidiaries and our customers, this is the measure we have to take to prevent further deterioration of the situation and lead to larger power outages.
