Greg Abbott Draws Outrage After ERCOT's Rolling Blackouts Warning

Texas' power grid operator is once again asking residents to prepare for rolling blackouts and Governor Greg Abbott is back on the receiving end of criticisms that he failed to fix the troubled electrical grid.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates Texas' grid, asked Texas on Thursday to conserve energy through the afternoon and evening as forecasters predicted that a high demand for power, amid extreme heat, could cause tight grid conditions. ERCOT said there was "high potential" for emergency operations, which in a worst-case scenario, involves the implementation of rolling power outages.

Avoiding the reach of federal regulators, Texas has long operated on a lone grid that is separated from the rest of the country. Although the state has been able to remain exempt from federal rules, its power grid has run into issues being disconnected from the nation's other grids, meaning Texas cannot access power from other states, even in times of emergency.

As extreme weather becomes a more frequent occurrence, Texas' grid has repeatedly become strained by heat and storms. Each time, Abbott has drawn outrage from residents who have urged him to act to prevent chaos over future energy problems.

Thursday was no different. Texans took to social media to air their grievances with the governor, accusing him of turning the state into a "developing country" and slamming him for being too tied up in the nation's culture wars to address ERCOT.

Asked about those criticisms, Abbott's office pointed out that ERCOT did not have to go into emergency operations on Thursday. "There were no rolling blackouts," a spokesperson for Abbott told Newsweek.

As of Friday morning, the grid was back to operating in normal conditions, per a dashboard on the ERCOT website.

"Meanwhile, down here in Texas, we've been told to get ready for rolling blackouts tonight. @GregAbbott_TX has totally failed to fix the power grid. He and his buddies used to make fun of California for their rolling blackouts. Now he's silent about his own incompetence," Julian Castro, the former housing secretary under the Obama administration, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.

"Greg Abbott has turned Texas into a developing country, routinely worried about rolling blackouts," Karthik Soora, a candidate for Texas' state Senate, wrote on X. He called on the state to weatherize all power generators, connect Texas' grid to others to increase reliability and to establish a green bank energy efficiency requirements in Texas.

Rebecca Marques, who runs the progressive media company Texas Signal, wrote: "Texas Republicans have been too busy banning abortions, attacking trans kids, and banning books by Black authors in schools to fix the electric grid,"

Attorney Sara Spector posted on X: "Breaking: just got alert in TX that our energy grid is failing ! Great job Greg Abbott on fixing that grid!" alongside a caption of the ERCOT warning.

One X user sarcastically posted: "Greg Abbott's Freedom Grid is freedoming again" with a screenshot of the ERCOT alert.

Newsweek reached out to Abbott's office via email for comment.

Thursday's ERCOT alert marks the fourth time that the power grid has asked people to lower their usage this summer, with the most recent request being on Sunday. So far this summer, the state has broken its power demand record at least 10 times due to the state's economic expansion and this year's intense heat waves.

The Austin area recorded 44 consecutive days of temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit this month, according to the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio. The previous record was 27 consecutive days in 2011.

On Thursday, the National Weather Service Fort Worth reported that both the Dallas-Forth Worth area and Waco broke the record high, with both sites making it to 107 degrees. The previous record was 106 degrees in both locations during 2011.