SAN ANTONIO — CPS Energy says it's ready for mother nature.
Last February's cold and very dark winter storm left everyone on edge. Nearly, a year later, CPS Energy said it has spent several million dollars to strengthen its power plants against freezing temperatures. CPS Energy Interim CEO Rudy Garza said outages are possible due to high winds.
"I think we are prepared as we can be," he said. We do not anticipate any grid related outages associated with this winter weather."
In a statement, CPS Energy said plants received $2 million in improvements, building on nearly $20 million invested following a winter freeze in 2011. The winterization efforts will continue as part of the utility's recently approved rate increase.
"We are confident that the work our team has completed will help our infrastructure withstand the upcoming freezing temperatures," said Chief Grid Optimization & Resiliency Officer, Paul Barham. "We are better prepared with our generation units, fuel supply, the plan for executing rolling power outages in the future, and our communications to customers have steadily improved over the past year."
Meanwhile, SAWS says: "Be Ready! They say to insulate those exposed pipes, so they don't burst. They also say in case of an emergency have batteries and flashlights, and if need be, fill the bathtub with water.
Bexar County crews are already working on the roads. They are using chat rock and chip seal rock to treat the roads. Spokesperson Tom Peine said they would covering roughly 265 bridges and will start monitoring the roads Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, earlier Wednesday you can see TxDOT already pre-treated roads around the region with brine. The main focus are the northern parts of the county and the Hill Country.