Pablo Vegas, CEO of Texas grid operator ERCOT, plans to request state lawmakers to amend rules to allow the grid to require data centers to reduce power consumption as early as when a Level 1 Electric Emergency Response (EEA) is declared, or even earlier. According to Bloomberg, current rules typically require data centers to reduce load only when the grid enters a Level 2 emergency. Vegas stated that initiating data center load adjustments earlier would help protect residential and business power during power shortages.
According to ERCOT's classification system, a Level 1 emergency means that the grid's reserve capacity has fallen below 2,500 megawatts and is not expected to be restored within 30 minutes; at this point, a system-wide rolling blackout has not yet been initiated. The reserve capacity threshold for a Level 2 alert is 2,000 megawatts. Texas's SB6 bill, passed in 2025, already requires large electricity consumers to reduce load after receiving one day's advance notice, but ERCOT stated that it has not previously used this law to require data centers to actually reduce load. Vegas said that data centers proactively reduced power consumption during severe weather last winter.
