While millions of Texas residents suffered power outages for the past several days in the historic winter storm, those who live in El Paso escaped such losses of power.
Why? Because El Paso is not part of the Texas power grid. Instead, it belongs to the Western power grid which covers 14 Western states, Northern Baja, Mexico and two provinces in Canada.
The Texas grid suffered through massive power outages because of the winter storm and Arctic temperatures. However, the decision by El Paso some 60 years ago to connect to the Western grid in Albuquerque proved to be a smart one as El Paso at the time received power from the Four Corners power plant in New Mexico, a contract that ended in 2016.
El Paso was later provided power from an Arizona power plant.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent emergency generators to Texas and is preparing to also send diesel fuel “to ensure the continued availability of backup power,” according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
