Twitter goes nuclear over ERCOT’s request for Texans to hike thermostat in scorching heat

SAN ANTONIO – This week, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) requested Texans to conserve energy to avoid rolling outages.

Some power plants were knocked offline unexpectedly on Monday, resulting in a large loss of power supply. That, coupled with a spike in electric demand due to scorching temperatures across all major cities in the state, meant Texans were back under the threat of power outages during extreme weather.

For many, it brought back memories from February, when a brutal winter storm knocked several power providers offline and resulted in widespread outages. Scores of Texans went without power for up to a week in sub-freezing temperatures, many cities lost water pressure. More than 100 people died as a result. The Legislature passed some reforms, but some experts are skeptical they will prevent most outages in the future.

On Monday, one way that ERCOT — the agency that runs the state’s unique electric grid — advised Texans to conserve energy was to turn their thermostats up to 78 degrees or higher.

ERCOT tweeted a statement followed by a news release on their Twitter account.

“ERCOT has issued a Conservation Alert, and Texans are being asked to safely reduce their electric use.”

Of course, many Twitter users weren’t happy with this request and didn’t shy away from showing their disappointment.

Here are some of the reactions to ERCOT.

Editor’s note: To be clear, the video below is satire and not a real ERCOT spokesperson.