STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS - Power prices soared in Texas this week as the state's electric grid operator passed another reliability test after urging homes and businesses to conserve energy during a brutal heat wave for a second day in a row on Thursday.
Texas residents have worried about extreme weather since a deadly storm in February 2021 left millions without power, water and heat for days as ERCOT struggled to prevent a grid collapse after the closure of an unusually large amount of generation. Real-time power prices, however, jumped to over $4,000 per megawatt hour for more than an hour Thursday evening after hitting the grid's $5,000 price cap for about an hour Wednesday night.
As homes and businesses keep their air conditioners cranked up to escape the heat, ERCOT expects power use to peak at 84,880 megawatts on Friday, breaking the record high for the month of September for a fifth day in a row.