> The rest of the contiguous United States shares either the east or west power > grid, but most of Texas uses its own separate grid managed by ERCOT. > Unfortunately right now most of Texas is very cold and everybody is using > more electricity running their heaters. At the same time, the weather has > knocked out some power plants. And since our grid is separate, there's no way > to get surplus power from other states. Texas was not designed with such cold > temperatures in mind.
I read that Texas did import electrical power from Mexico a week or so ago. I guess they threw the jumper cables over that "big, beautiful wall". My understanding is that, also, there is a connection to the East US grid, but using it might subject Texas to dreaded Federal regulation of the power industry there. Stay warm.