SAN ANTONIO — Interim CPS Energy President Rudy Garza told reporters Wednesday the utility's power plants are ready for the coming freeze.
"There's still work to do, but I do believe we're in a better place this year than we have been in the past," Garza said.
The city-owned electricity provider spent $2 million weatherizing power plants and transmission sites in the year since winter storm Uri.
Garza said he expects the utility will spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years to better-prepare its equipment for cold weather.
CPS Energy engineers offered local media a rare look at the latest improvements during a tour at the Braunig Power Station Wednesday. Upgrades are primarily related to insulation and emergency heating.
"I know that our community has a certain amount of post-traumatic stress," Garza said. "I don't want our community to be fearful that CPS energy is not doing everything we can to be prepared."
Each CPS Energy facility passed ERCOT inspections ahead of the coming front, said Benny Ethridge, the utility's vice president for energy supply.
"They are comfortable with what they saw," he said. "No issues identified."
The Braunig plant converts natural gas to electricity. One of its facilities failed during last year's winter storm, initially because of a poorly-insulated transmitter.
"When this plant was built, the insulation was up to a standard that should protect it... it didn't," Ethridge said. "I think we've put the work in that we needed to do and we're prepared."
ERCOT does not anticipate rotating blackouts will be necessary this week, though Garza noted that blackouts would be shorter for customers this year.
The utility added about 150,000 customers to a list of homes and businesses that will lose power during a 'load-shed' event. Adding circuits should more evenly distribute shutoffs, though customers who did not experience rotating outages last year might be subject to outages now.
Garza praised the utility's efforts to communicate with its customers, making reference to a cold weather alert delivered electronically Wednesday.
But the state did not require natural gas suppliers, which feed the fuel electricity companies convert to electricity, to weatherize before this winter. If natural gas pipes freeze, weatherization efforts at power plants will not achieve as much good.
"I think the railroad commission has work to do," Garza said. "We're kind of just hopeful that they've done what they needed to do. There's an unknown there."
Still, CPS Energy has more fuel stored this year. The state also has more electricity reserved, in the event some plants cannot meet demand.