Overview

ERCOT Conservation Alert June 2021 refers to a call by The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) for Texans made on June 14th, 2021, to reduce the amount of electricity they're using due to "tight grid conditions" brought on by summer heat. Among the requests, the alert specifically asked Texans to set their thermostats to specific temperatures to conserve power, which coincided with a heatwave. The requests were met with heavy criticism, resulting in numerous hashtags calling out ERCOT, as well as memes and posts mocking them.

Background

On June 14th, 2021, ERCOT^[1] posted a conservation alert asking Texans to reduce their electricity use as much as possible due to tight grid conditions. The tight grid conditions are allegedly due to forced generation outages and record-high electrical use in Texas over the course of June among intense summer heat. The alert goes on to describe how much energy has been used over the course of June and confirmed that they are investigating the number of outages. They also list a number of guidelines^[2] for Texans to follow to reduce electricity:

• Set your thermostat to 78 degrees or higher – every degree of cooling increases your energy use by six to eight percent.
• Turn off lights and pool pumps and avoid using large appliances like ovens, washing machines and dryers.
• If you don’t need something – we are asking you to turn it off and unplug it if possible.

The alert was reported on by a number of news outlets^[3][4] over the course of the week, many making explicit note of ERCOT releasing the alert during a heatwave.^[5] Reactions to the news were primarily critical almost immediately.^[10]

ERCOT: set your thermostats at 78°Literally all of Texas: pic.twitter.com/yDak5Rl8pS

— K-T (@sirkbert) June 14, 2021

Notable Developments

People were immediately critical of ERCOT's requests, taking to Twitter to mock them and show their refusal to stop using electricity, particularly their AC. Many also compared the power grid's failure's to February's extreme cold event in Texas, which also caused power grid failures and left many without heat and clean water.^[6] For example, on June 14th, the day of the alert's release, Twitter^[7] user @Issachdz1 posted a For The Better, Right? meme comparing the events, garnering over 5,700 likes and 1,400 retweets in two days (shown below).

On the same day, Twitter^[8] user and comedian Blaire Erskine posted a video posing as an ERCOT spokesperson making a nonsense statement on the event, notably using the line, "Would you rather have AC or AOC?," garnering over 48,900 likes and 7,800 retweets in two days (shown below). The post was reported on by the Independent.^[9]

ERCOT spokesperson pic.twitter.com/sQzrMUVMWG

— blaire erskine (@blaireerskine) June 14, 2021

On June 15th, Facebook^[10] page Texas Is Life posted a Pawn Stars meme referencing the event, garnering over 4,800 reactions and 13,000 shares in 20 hours (shown below, left). On the same day, a photograph^[12] taken of a TV screen showing specific temperature directions from ERCOT began spreading on social media, notably posted to Instagram^[11] page @oldrowofficial, garnering over 49,000 likes in a day (shown below, right).

The hashtags #ERCOTfailsTexasAgain, #ERCOT, #TexasPowerGrid and #TexasDeservesBetter all gained significant traction throughout the week. Many took to blaming the conservative government in charge for the power grid's failures, particularly after being assured by Governor Greg Abbott that the power grid issues were being taken care of (example shown below).^[13]

This tweet didn't age well… and it's just been a few days.#Texasgrid #TexasDeservesBetter https://t.co/BKvkQhSE7v

— Jason Rogers (@Rogers4Texas) June 15, 2021

The event also inspired a new flock of memes mocking Texas Senator Ted Cruz, specifically joking about his 2021 Cancun Vacation controversy when he fled from Texas during the power grid's winter failure to Cancun, Mexico (examples shown below).^[14]

Various Meme Examples

Search Interest

External References