Energy Conservation Encouraged as Frigid Weather Conditions Linger
Oklahoma Corporation Commission Directs Utilities to Prioritize Life, Health & Public Safety During Winter Weather Event, Wednesday, February 17, 6 a.m.
In the midst of a historic winter weather event marked by the first-time issuance of energy emergency alerts by the Southwest Power Pool, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission issued an order on February 16, 2021 directing utilities to prioritize the delivery of natural gas and electricity services necessary for life, health and public safety and to prioritize deliveries of natural gas to electric generation facilities that serve human needs customers.
Consumers – both residential and businesses – are urged to take steps to conserve energy. Conservation efforts are critical to ensure adequate power supply during this winter weather event.
Per OCC’s direction, consumers in the residential and business sectors should reduce thermostats settings and unplug all non-essential electronic devices; turn off all office and workplace lighting, including exterior illumination, when not necessary for protection of life and safety; turn off all exterior lighting not used for active public safety, which includes lighting to unused parking, exterior beautification, outdoor advertising not of a safety nature, etc., among other applicable measures businesses and for residences.
Oklahoma’s electric cooperatives urge residential, commercial and industrial consumer-members to conserve energy as efficiently and as safely as possible.
This order is effective until Saturday, February 20, 2021.
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A message from our power supplier, Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 12 p.m.:
Load reductions are being done over the entire 14 state SPP footprint, this is not a WFEC event, but a region wide event.
Why did this event occur?
1) extraordinary regional load due to the cold weather over the entire footprint of SPP
2) the extended length of the cold weather
3) Cold weather and the freezing of natural gas wells, processing plants, and pipelines continues to reduce the amount of natural gas daily.
4) unit failures or inability to come online
5) Very little wind generation, and very little solar generation.
How long will this go on?
Very likely until the end of the week or until it gets warmer.
Everyone is doing everything they can to interrupt service as little as possible. Each time an Emergency level 3 occurs, the regional grid is within minutes of failure and immediate action to reduce load is required by SPP to maintain load.
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Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC), a generation and transmission cooperative based in Anadarko, Oklahoma and a member of the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, requested the public to conserve electricity, beginning at midnight on Monday, Feb. 15 to help mitigate any potential problems. The call for conservation was prompted by the continuing frigid weather conditions.
WFEC is the power supplier for 21 rural electric cooperatives across much of Oklahoma, including NFEC, and eastern New Mexico. Cooperative customers in this region are encouraged to conserve electricity or natural gas, which will help ensure their safety and the integrity of the regional grid. Demand for electricity is expected to increase as the extremely cold weather lingers for the next several days. WFEC and NFEC are asking customers to conserve electricity, if health permits, by taking a few simple conservation steps, including:
· Setting thermostats lower than usual.
· Postponing use of major electric appliances such as stoves, dishwashers and clothes dryers until mid-day or after 9 p.m., when the demand for electricity decreases.
· Turning off electric lights and appliances that you do not need or are not using.
Conserving electricity today will help bolster system reliability and ensure that adequate power supplies remain available during the extreme weather conditions already being experienced and expected over the next couple of days. WFEC will continue to carefully monitor the power supply conditions and keep the public informed if conditions change.
The declaration of conservative operations was first initiated by the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), a regional transmission organization, mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure reliable supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure and competitive wholesale electricity prices on behalf of its members. SPP manages the electric grid across 17 central and western U.S. states and provides energy services on a contract basis to customers in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections.
SPP’s analysis of current forecast data indicates that conditions may continue to tighten over the next several days because of persistent, widespread and extreme cold and are recommending that load-serving utilities take conservation measures to mitigate the risk of any widespread problems.