Farmersville officials posted on social media Wednesday, warning the city would conduct “rolling blackouts” at random homes at the request of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
ERCOT said in an email that it did not order any rolling blackouts on Wednesday. The state's power grid operator has issued calls for conservation twice this week as widespread heat drives up the demand for electricity.
Farmersville City Manager Ben White said Wednesday's mix-up was tied to a miscommunication with the city’s energy provider.
"Facebook was blowing up," White said. "There were people monitoring that and seeing that, and ERCOT was monitoring it and got wind of it, and then called me back at that time and said 'we haven't issued any kind of order like that.'"
Due to a miscommunication, the previous random blackout will not be necessary. We are aware that the previous post caused alarm and we are sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused.
— Farmersville Fire Department-Texas (@FarmersvilleFD) July 13, 2022
Sincerely,
Benjamin (Ben) L. White, P.E., CPM
City Manager/Public Works Director
White says officials moved forward with shutting off power to some non-essential buildings and businesses that were already closed on Wednesday, but no homes were affected. He said by 6:30 p.m., power had been fully restored in the city.
“In the end, it really didn't have a lot of effect on people's electricity here," White said. "It was just very upsetting because people thought they would get affected, and that's what created a lot of problems for people."
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