Southwest Texas Electric Cooperative’s Load Shedding Procedures
As a last resort during energy emergencies or other major events, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) may instruct utilities, including Southwest Texas EC, to reduce consumer demand for electricity by shedding load through implementing outages, also known as curtailment. SWTEC will only curtail power to its members during emergency situations that require a reduction in load to prevent the statewide electric grid or our electric system from failing or to prevent damage to equipment and property, such as what we experienced in February 2021.
SWTEC will attempt to inform its members in advance of planned outages or rolling curtailments but cannot guarantee that advance notice will be possible.
Southwest Texas Electric Cooperative's priority will be to shed load in the following order:
- Oil field and irrigation loads
- Industrial loads
- Commercial loads
- Residential loads
- Medical priority accounts (Members with life-sustaining equipment) and critical loads
Priorities for Restoration of Services – The first priority of Southwest Texas EC in restoring electric service is to clear all electrical hazards which pose an immediate danger to the public. Southwest Texas EC will then restore electrical service in the following order to ensure the effectiveness or restoration efforts:
- Transmission system
- Substation(s)
- Main distribution feeders
- Distribution laterals
- Medical priority accounts (Members with life-sustaining equipment) and critical loads
- Individual loads
Medical Priority is Important to SWTEC
If you or anyone living in your household uses life sustaining medical equipment, please contact our main office in Eldorado and let us know so we can mark your account as a medical priority account. We do this so that in the event of an extended widespread power outage, your power restoration will be first priority. Please provide us with details as to what the medical condition is and what type of life sustaining equipment is in use, along with the amount of backup power you have available. You will also need to provide us with a medical certification from a physician stating that the equipment in use is life sustaining. Medical priority is not guarantee that you will be provided with immediate power, as no one can make that guarantee. You should always be prepared to move to an alternate location in the event of an extended power outage.