Austin, Travis County Officials Limit Power Output, Price Gauging

AUSTIN, TX — As power outages continue to be an major issue for local residents after this week’s ice storm, Austin Mayor Steve Adler, along with Travis County officials, is taking steps to limit the power usage and also issued orders to prevent businesses from raising prices on essential goods as long as the severe weather continues.

The pleas made for area businesses to conserve energy were made Tuesday by Adler as a way of a reducing energy usage to residents and businesses that still have power. Austin Energy officials said Wednesday that while a winter weather warning remains in effect until 6 p.m. Thursday, it is still possible that weather conditions will cause those who have power to experience outages.

In addition to issuing the orders for both the city and county on Tuesday, officials have coordinated with the Downtown Austin Alliance in requesting “urgent assistance” to help reduce non-essential power usage to the downtown area. The orders to conserve energy are to remain in place until Feb. 22, Adler said.

As part of the order, officials indicated that ERCOT has issued a Level 3 Energy Emergency Alert and ordered electric utilities across Texas to implement controlled power outages to reduce high demand and protect the integrity of the electrical grid. The duration of the controlled outages has been significantly extended due to emergency grid conditions and severe cold weather, the order reads.

ERCOT officials have said they are unable to predict when grid conditions will improve enough to restore the grid to full functionality.

“We have put out an urgent plea to businesses to reduce their power consumption as well” Adler said at a news conference on Tuesday. “Any measure that can be taken by homes with power or commercial businesses to reduce power usage is a step closer to returning power to homes in our community.”

Under the orders by city and county officials regarding price gauging, businesses are prohibited from selling certain goods or services at prices higher than they were selling for on Feb. 11, officials said. The only exception is when prices were due to go up because of supplier cost.