The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of power across the electric grid to more than 26 million Texas customers, which serves approximately 75 percent of the land area of Texas, including the City of Garland. Texas Senate Bill 3 (SB3) requires electric utility providers in the ERCOT service area to share a synopsis of involuntary load shedding procedures. 

When ERCOT orders load shedding, also known as controlled outages, Garland Power & Light (GP&L) and all other electric utilities must abide by this process to ensure the stability of the ERCOT electric grid. Failure to properly implement load shedding procedures could result in the failure of the grid, which could be long-lasting and have a significant impact on all aspects of life. 


About Load Shedding 

Load shedding, or controlled outages, is a protection plan in place for all electric grid operators, including those that serve other regions of the United States. When electric supply provided by all available power generation plants, wind and solar farms, and other sources becomes insufficient to meet customer demand on the ERCOT grid, ERCOT begins emergency operations. 

During a power emergency when electric supply cannot meet customer demand for electricity and all other operational tools have been exhausted, the demand for electricity must be reduced to avoid uncontrolled grid blackouts. ERCOT will instruct electric utilities to immediately implement controlled outages, or load shed, to reduce customer demand for electricity on the ERCOT grid. Load shed will continue until ERCOT determines the outages are no longer required.

Depending on the severity of the event, ERCOT may require load shed for several minutes to several hours, or in extreme cases, over a period of days. When required by ERCOT to implement controlled outages, GP&L aims to minimize the disruption to customers. The GP&L plan is to rotate through non-critical electric circuits, turning power off for a period of time, and then back on. This would continue throughout the load shed event. The length of time the power is out on a circuit depends on the load shed situation. The amount of power to be shed is determined by ERCOT and can vary throughout the event.


During Load Shed Events:

• All customers should assume their power could go out without advanced warning. Efforts will be made to provide advanced notification of pending outages, but circumstances do not always make that possible.

• Because a load shed event is an emergency order from ERCOT, electric utilities, including GP&L, do not have the information to be able to notify individual customers if they may lose power, when they may lose power, or how long the load shed event may last.

• In extreme power emergencies, ERCOT may require electric utilities to shed large amounts of load over long periods of time. In these instances, electric utilities, like GP&L, may not have the ability to rotate outages without risking the stability of the entire electric grid. When this happens, some customers may be without power for an extended period of time.

• Residential customers dependent on electric-powered medical equipment, such as those designated as Chronic Condition or Critical Care, in accordance with Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) rule §25.497, are encouraged to have a backup plan in the event they lose electricity should a localized outage or load shed event occur. It is important to note that these customers are not excluded from controlled outages and may lose power during a load shed event. Anyone who depends on electricity for life-sustaining equipment should have a backup plan in place.

The procedure to apply to be considered a critical care residential customer can be found at https://garlandutilities.org/3656/Chronic-Condition-and-Critical-Care.

• Non-residential customers designated as Critical Load, in accordance with PUCT rule §25.497, are not guaranteed continuous power supply. It is the customer’s responsibility to have alternative sources of electric power should a localized outage or load shed event occur. 

Critical Load designation can include, but is not limited to hospitals, police and fire stations, critical water and wastewater facilities, specific components of the natural gas infrastructure, and industrial customers for whom an electric service interruption would create dangerous or life-threatening conditions on the customer’s premises.

The procedure to apply to be considered a Critical Load Public Safety or Industrial customer can be found at: https://www.garlandutilities.org/3921/Critical-Load.

How You Can Help

Typically, before calling for controlled outages, ERCOT takes steps to reduce demand on the electric grid, including asking customers to reduce electric usage. If you have power during controlled outages, consider turning off unnecessary lights and electronics, and delaying the use of large appliances. For more ways to reduce electricity use, visit: https://www.gpltexas.org/energytips.

Regardless of the nature of the load shedding event, GP&L is committed to ensuring the safe and reliable delivery of electricity to its customers. While GP&L may not control the issues or conditions that require ERCOT to implement load shedding, we will make every effort to comply with ERCOT’s instructions and to restore electricity to our customers when we are able to safely do so. In addition, we will work to keep our customers informed about the situation through our websites (gpltexas.org and GarlandTX.gov), the Garland Alert System, Garland Enews, social media, local media and other communication channels.