Texas and some parts of New Mexico are suffering the fallout of an energy crisis brought on by the recent extreme cold to the region. The inclement weather has caused several issues resulting in significant pressure on the electrical grid which has caused power outages, price hikes and controlled outages.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott assured people via Twitter that the electrical grid “has not been compromised” and stated that the weather has affected power generation capabilities with some electric companies in the state. He added, “They are working to get generation back on line.”

Xcel Energy has released a series of guidelines urging customers to cut back on energy usage as much as possible. The reduction of energy use would hopefully help alleviate the strain on the grid. One such suggestion from Xcel is setting thermostats no higher than 68 degrees.

Governor Abbott secured emergency federal funds from the Biden administration on Valentine’s Day to help the state respond to this crisis.

I thank President Biden for quickly issuing a Federal Emergency Declaration for Texas as we continue to respond to severe winter weather conditions throughout the stateGov. Abbott

However, the situation has not been confined to Texas. Many residents in eastern New Mexico have been reporting issues as well. Xcel Energy also serves a significant portion of New Mexico, including Hobbs with a population of approximately 40,000, and it along with many other companies are part of the Southwest Power Pool which helps maintain and regulate the energy grid across the region. SPP has mandated usage reductions on its member companies, resulting in “controlled outages” as part of its Level 3 Energy Emergency Alert.

Lea County Electric which serves areas in Texas and New Mexico, posted an alert on Facebook.

Aside from relying on customers to lower their own energy usage, electric companies are using controlled outages to bring down energy usage to levels the electrical grid can sustain. This has mostly affected industrial and commercial sites. These controlled outages are designed to minimize the impact on residential customers, but since the electrical grid can still be overloaded in some areas, residential customers may still have service interruptions.

As of Tuesday morning, SPP has “restored all load” but is maintaining the Level 3 alert while it operates on “minimal reserves”.