I think it is fair to say Winter Storm Uri did not make any friends on its rampage across Kansas and most of the United States.  Thousands of flights were cancelled, hundreds of vehicles were involved in accidents, and even Walmart reported they closed 501 stores from Kentucky to Texas.  Subzero temperatures and snowfall battered the Midwest as far south as San Antonio and Laredo causing millions of people to lose power.

Many people are mad, frustrated, and wondering how and why the electricity was cut off in these extreme weather conditions.  The February 2021 event was deemed an Energy Emergency Alert and cut-offs or “load shed” events were ordered across a good portion of the Midwest. I have experienced about six load-shed events in my 28-year electric cooperative career, and they frustrate electric cooperatives as much as they frustrate you.

To understand why load shed happens, you need to understand some basics about how the power grid operates today. 

Think of the power grid as a lake.  Rivers or creeks (representing power generation plants) feed into the lake while other spillways, rivers, or creeks (representing distribution systems) take water out at the other end and supply it to the end user. At the lake, someone has the job to make sure the lake level doesn’t get too high or too low.  In Lane-Scott’s part of the power grid, that duty falls on the Southwest Power Pool (SPP).  They are the designated Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) for a 17 state, 552,000 square-mile area that extends from the Canadian border into the Texas panhandle and east Texas.

SPP is tasked with oversight of the bulk electric grid as well as for monitoring and managing wholesale power flow.  They do not generate electricity, own power lines or substations, but it is their job to keep the power grid energized.

Winter Storm Uri brought record stress to the bulk electric grid.  The generation capacity needed by the grid is roughly determined by looking at past historical highs then adding a percentage above that high.  Uri blew the top off the estimates.

In anticipation of the storm SPP ordered all generation to be prepared.  As electric demand exceeded supply, the “lake” level dropped, and SPP had to cut back on the “spillway” to keep from draining the lake.  This is called a “Capacity Shed” and is needed to prevent “brown-outs”.  As power plants ramp up to meet demands they can heat up to the point where the plant is damaged which requires months to repair.  Power plants are designed to automatically shut down to avoid this. 

If one plant goes down, a domino effect will occur, the others will try to “ramp-up” to cover the loss.  This makes the next one down, then the next, then the next and so on.  This is a “brown-out” and left unchecked will result in a total system wide “black-out”.

Federal NERC (the Electric Reliability Organization for North America) requirements are designed to protect the grid and assure the safety and reliability of the power grid.  When SPP orders a “Capacity Shed” local transmission control areas are required to shed load within 10 minutes of the order. Lane-Scott Electric’s transmission operator is Sunflower Electric Power Corp. This immediate order is frustrating for Sunflower, Lane-Scott, and you because often members know the power is out before we do. If load shed orders are not followed, fines can exceed $5-10 million per day.

Hopefully, that helps explain how the power grid operates in these crisis situations.

Outages are never convenient and even more harsh in freezing temperatures. However, looking at the big picture, we feel it could have been much worse. Lane-Scott Electric had a few outages related to localized transmission and substation issues. While not a load shed ordered by the SPP, they occurred to protect the power grid from load issues related to high demand. The SPP mandated load shed events were held to a minimum by rotating load sheds in small increments of time around Sunflower’s six cooperative and 58 county territory in central and western Kansas. Many others across the nation were not as fortunate and experienced outages for 12 or more hours in freezing temperatures.

Continuing Effects

Now for the ugly part. The fuel used to power the natural gas power plants is commodity based.  That means it responds to supply and demand price signals.  Demand was at record highs – price will be also.  This extreme weather event and subsequent generation fuel shortage will affect the wholesale cost of power for all utilities. These prices will be passed to Sunflower who will pass them along to Lane-Scott Electric. Know these prices are a direct pass through. Lane-Scott Electric is not making a profit or any additional money on the increased price of fuel and generation.

Some of you may see your power bills double, triple, or even quadruple because of this storm.  These bills will come out in March and be due in March.  While we cannot control these types of outages, we can help with the bills.  Wholesale power and transmission expenses are typically 60% of your monthly billings.  The Board of Trustees of Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative is allowing us to spread the impact of the wholesale cost over several months rather than collecting it all next month as we typically would. In addition, we are offering a six-month payment plan on the amount that is above your average, total power bill.  This amount will be an adder on subsequent billing, but you must request it and fill out the required paperwork.

Winter Storm Uri didn’t make any friends.  We have spoken to many, many frustrated members explaining the mechanics and unfortunate necessity of the load sheds we have experienced.  These events were necessary and, in most instances, out of the control of Sunflower and Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative.  That frustrates all of us.

However, the Cooperative advantage still rings true.  We could not prevent the load sheds, but we can, and we will, work with you to make the cost of this emergency as manageable as we can.  We appreciate your conservation efforts and understanding during this energy emergency.  It is an honor to be your general manager and to work with the Lane-Scott team of employees and Board of Trustees.

Please contact us whenever you have a question or concern.