Summer blackouts: never say never

Remember the rolling blackouts in freakishly hot mid-April? Fast-forward to freakishly hot mid-July, and we may be in for more of the same — although state power grid officials say blackouts now aren't likely. Sort of.

On Monday, with temperatures around the state above 100, Texas used a record 62,396 megawatts of electricity between 4 and 5 p.m. (the old record was 60,274, set last August.) The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the grid, said then that 67,000 megawatts would be available during peak usage hours while the temperatures stayed up — which has turned out to be enough so far, as clouds over the Houston area reduced our usage Tuesday and Wednesday's peak hit 61,543 megawatts.

What happens when the demand gets close to 67,000 megawatts? Officials say the state would first have to start importing power from other grids, then ask certain industrial customers to shut down their operations, and finally ask the public to start conserving electricity. If all that didn't work, officials would ask utilities to "cut some load," or turn off power temporarily to some customers. The steps are designed to prevent a total blackout, but that's not out of the question: "We can't say we'll never have a blackout in this region," ERCOT spokesman Paul Wattles said.

So what do you do if you're worried that you'll blow out the state's power system if you run your hair dryer during the afternoon? Easy: Check the Public Utility Commission's website, which features daily "conservation alerts." A green alert means everything's OK, a yellow alert (like we're under now) means you should cut your power use between 3 and 7 p.m., and a red alert indicates that you might want to turn everything off and go visit a friend who has a generator. Just in case.