UPDATE: AEP is now reporting that outages may last until Wednesday.
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (KVEO) — As Texas experiences a winter weather emergency, AEP is advising residents that they may be without power for an extended period of time.
According to AEP Texas, “power outages will most likely continue for the rest of today, possibly into Tuesday.”
AEP later tweeted that power outages may last until Wednesday.
There are at least 367,000 AEP customers without power in south and west Texas.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is continuing to request power companies to increase the amount of power removed from their systems.
The condition of the system is requiring the outages to last longer than expected, according to AEP.
Additionally, AEP states “it is too early to project when the situation will ease and the number of outages will begin to decrease.”
AEP advises residents to turn off heating and large appliances if they lose power in order to ease the restoration process.
“Once power is restored, you should switch the devices back on gradually over the following 30-to-45 minutes,” said AEP in a release. “Taking this step will help prevent a sudden surge in demand after power is restored, which could cause a second outage.”
AEP also advises residents to turn the thermostat down two to three degrees, limit the use of large appliances, and cook with a microwave if making food from 2 to 8 p.m.
