Power outages.. report..

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EliteElectric
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birdman said:

We had power cycle on twice for total of two hours in the last 24+ hours.
you live in Tiffany Park too?

lol J/K

We have had very little up time in the last 36 hours.

People choose to live in Dallas and Houston, there is no way citizens of Brazos county should be cold and dark in their homes so we can "help" the major grids.

We choose to live here because it isn't Dallas or Houston

We have been off since 4 pm ish yesterday and just came back up, it is 41* in our home and our pool pumps are gonners.
Mathguy64
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AG
Out 6:10 pm-12:20 am, 3:30-6:30 am and now out again at 8:30 am in Copperfield. Rolling outage my ass.
Smeghead4761
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It's interesting to me, looking at the reported number of meters (customers) out on BTU's outage page. At any given time since Monday morning, it's shown 20,000 meters down, +/- 2,000, roughly. I've seen it as high as 23,000, but 18,000 is about the lowest I've seen. That's out of ~62,000 total meters.

And it seems to be the same sections going down, coming up, going down.
trouble
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According to a neighbor, our power came back around 10:30 and went out again at 12:20. As of 9, it still wasn't back.

I'd tell you what the temp is in my house but the battery in my nest is dead.

I'm just so grateful we were able to leave with the boys and spend the night somewhere warm.
birdman
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22,500 without power now.

My definition of rolling blackout must be different from the power company.

I don't understand how my neighborhood has power 10% of the time, yet friends in other neighborhoods have power 60% of the time. Neither subdivision is tied to hospital.

It's not a mechanical failure from ice knocking down lines.
meinkee
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And in NE Brazos County we have power NONE of the time. The most recent outage was mon. Night at 8 and it is still down at 9:45 this morning. I understand this is bigger than all of us but it still stinks. By the way ercot ceo: 6million a year in compensation.
DeckMe80
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I have immense respect for BTU field workers, power plant workers and other employees fighting to keep our power on. Unfortunately they were handicapped by poor planning.

BTU General Manager Gary Miller needs to resign. He had a week to prepare for this.
happyinBCS
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I just don't understand this I live in south CS and I have had NO power issues I am thankful but very upset from what I read here, Hell this is 2021 and we are not a 3rd world country I hope somehow they get to the bottom of this BS
agfan2013
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AG
In Austin's colony, currently without power... since the storm started affecting the area over the weekend, our power first went out Monday morning at 2am. Here's the times it's been back ON:

Monday:
4-4:30am
1-2pm
4-6:30pm

Tuesday:
1:30-2am
7:30-8:45am

We are awfully behind on these "rolling blackouts" (I know our problem is more outage based)... and when they say wait 20-30 minutes to turn your furnace back on when the power does come back.... screw that, we aren't getting much time to try and warm up before it goes back off.

I realize linemen are probably working overtime and busting their asses in single digit temps, so I do appreciate all they are doing, but there was a failure somewhere up the chain of command (BTU, ERCOT, politicians that pushed green energy, or somewhere else) and there needs to be steps taken to ensure this doesn't happen again.
birdman
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When this is over, an interesting experiment would be to show the percent of power off in the various neighborhoods. I bet the differences would shock people. And I bet some heads will roll at utility companies.
EliteElectric
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Folks this isn't BTU's fault, this is ERCOT prioritizing large cities over us. People choose to live in those metros and Brazos county residents shouldn't have to be cold and darek over it. When this is done let's demand change to ERCOT's policy or demand we leave ERCOT

"BTU outages caused by ERCOT mandated blackouts" that is the KBTX headline

as a matter of FACT, BTU is one of the best public utilities in the nation and has been historically
birdman
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EliteElectric said:

Folks this isn't BTU's fault, this is ERCOT prioritizing large cities over us. People choose to live in those metros and Brazos county residents shouldn't have to be cold and darek over it. When this is done let's demand change to ERCOT's policy or demand we leave ERCOT

"BTU outages caused by ERCOT mandated blackouts" that is the KBTX headline

as a matter of FACT, BTU is one of the best public utilities in the nation and has been historically
That is second issue. Figure out which towns aren't getting power. That likely falls on ERCOT.

The second issue is on BTU. The higher ups might dictate they cut power. But BTU is making the decisions locally.
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threecatcorner
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Problem is ERCOT. Husband looked it up earlier and said grid doesn't even look overwhelmed.Their CEO gets paid $6 million? Why?

By the way, people in big cities are getting screwed too. A friend in the Dallas area has ONCOR and her power went on and off and then off a long time (probably still off; her phone has since died).

At least here, it's possible to call CSU's outage number, make sure I'm on the list of known outage areas, and leave a message if I want. She tried calling ONCOR, heard a message that they're getting too many calls, and it hung up on her.
jeffk
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AG
The only thing I really want from BTU is clarification about which outages are due to lack of power from the state grid and which are due to localized problems like lines being down. I know that might be unreasonable, but it would greatly aid decisions at the household level.
trouble
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There are people in Houston and the surrounding areas that have been without power for over 24 hours. It's not just us.
EliteElectric
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jeffk said:

The only thing I really want from BTU is clarification about which outages are due to lack of power from the state grid and which are due to localized problems like lines being down. I know that might be unreasonable, but it would greatly aid decisions at the household level.
There is no lack of power from state grid, we are net providers not consumers. BTU is being directed to put more power onto the grid and "shed load" in order to do it. "Shed load" means shut off it's customers



ERCOT is the issue here not BTU
91_Aggie
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Had to get my daughter from Woodlands Apartment today. She said power went off yesterday at 1pm and never came back on. She was freezing through the night.
jeffk
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Ah, thanks. Then it would be helpful to know which outages are due to load being shed and which ones are due to localized problems like downed lines.
75AG
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This. We establish our own grid, and then failed to prepare for something like this. There needs to be a complete legislative review/investigation into this statewide debacle.
EliteElectric
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Also CSU is a BTU customer so ERCOT directing BTU to "shed load" directly affects CSU's capacity as well.

ERCOT is the culprit here.
dr_boogs
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Thank you for your posts. You seem well connected (pun intended). What part of the industry do you work in? What would be your recommended starting points to raise cain about this here in BCS to demand change to this agreement?

BTU, city council/mayor, state senator/rep, governor's office, ERCOT directly? What would have most chance of having any effect?
Sinuso
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Southwood Valley. I've almost been able to (re-set) the clocks by the outages here. I've been getting an hour on, an hour off +- 10 minutes since yesterday. I'm conditioned to enjoy the 'lectrics for about 45 minutes then scramble around to turn everything off before ERCOT pulls the plug. Then, sit here and shiver in the dark until I hear the microwave beep back on.....
jeffk
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Learned this morning that at least two long term senior care facilities had their power shut off for a good portion of Monday despite being on the list of priority properties to keep powered. Both back on as of yesterday evening, but that was a little troubling to hear.
EliteElectric
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dr_boogs said:

Thank you for your posts. You seem well connected (pun intended). What part of the industry do you work in? What would be your recommended starting points to raise cain about this here in BCS to demand change to this agreement?

BTU, city council/mayor, state senator/rep, governor's office, ERCOT directly? What would have most chance of having any effect?
I am an electrical contractor in College Station
threecatcorner
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Not that I think they'd do it, but hypothetically, what would happen if BTU told ERCOT to f*** off and didn't shed load as instructed?
Hershey97
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Possibly a dumb question but I haven't seen anybody in a similar situation yet.

Has anybody had power the whole time but the internet (WireStar) goes off/on every 30 minutes? Is that because the place my internet is sourced from is in an area where there's rolling blackouts, but not my actual residence? Not too familiar with these things
quirkyaggie
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My area is set like clockwork.
30 mins on, 30 mins off.
3 minutes after the hour and three minutes after the half hour.

But my question is what is the boom I hear periodically? The one I just heard was the loudest one yet.
war hymn aggie
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happyinBCS said:

I just don't understand this I live in south CS and I have had NO power issues I am thankful but very upset from what I read here, Hell this is 2021 and we are not a 3rd world country I hope somehow they get to the bottom of this BS
Username doesn't check out.
trouble
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Possibly a transformer
Chase
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threecatcorner said:

Not that I think they'd do it, but hypothetically, what would happen if BTU told ERCOT to f*** off and didn't shed load as instructed?
Not sure that is a possibility...ERCOT is technically a non-profit (with a CEO making $6mm/year !?!) but it is an entity overseen by the Public Utility Commission, of which BTU is required to be a member.
Tailgate88
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91_Aggie said:

Had to get my daughter from Woodlands Apartment today. She said power went off yesterday at 1pm and never came back on. She was freezing through the night.
So you drove to the Woodlands and back today? I have a friend thinking about making that trip to retrieve family members as well but I was under the impression it was a skating rink all the way there. What are road conditions like?
trouble
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I assume there's fines for that
EliteElectric
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quirkyaggie said:



But my question is what is the boom I hear periodically? The one I just heard was the loudest one yet.
High Voltage switch or breaker closing in probably
Chase
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Hershey97 said:

Possibly a dumb question but I haven't seen anybody in a similar situation yet.

Has anybody had power the whole time but the internet (WireStar) goes off/on every 30 minutes? Is that because the place my internet is sourced from is in an area where there's rolling blackouts, but not my actual residence? Not too familiar with these things
The scenario you describe is not only possible but likely if the ISP is in a different part of the local grid from you. I'm dealing with several clients with intermittent ISP issues the last couple of days for this very reason.
 
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