The Texas heat has brought the state’s power grid to its closest point of outages since the winter storm of 2021.

HOUSTON — Texas’ power grid manager on Thursday again asked residents to cut their electricity use as the state endures another stretch of sizzling summer heat. The request carried fresh urgency, coming the day after the system was pushed to the brink of outages for the first time since a deadly winter blackout in 2021.

The request by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which serves most of the state’s 30 million residents, came a day after low energy reserves prompted the grid operator to issue a level 2 energy emergency alert. Operating reserves fell as demand surged amid the heat, and power from wind and solar energy sources proved insufficient, according to ERCOT.

This marked the council’s initial engagement in emergency operations following a devastating ice storm in 2021. The storm caused prolonged power outages for millions of customers and tragically led to numerous fatalities.

ERCOT stated on X, previously referred to as Twitter, that the emergency status persisted for approximately one hour on Wednesday night until the grid conditions reverted back to their usual state.

On Thursday, ERCOT asked residents to conserve power from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. CDT as reserves were again expected to be low. Much of Texas was covered by heat advisories on Thursday, with high temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius) in Austin, Amarillo, Dallas and El Paso.

ERCOT tweeted a request for Texas businesses and residents to conserve electricity usage, if it is safe for them to do so.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has said improvements since 2021 have stabilized the grid. Earlier this year, Texas lawmakers passed bills aimed at luring developers to generate more “on-demand” electricity, but the legislation did not extend to renewable sources.

A significant number of Texans continue to doubt the dependability of the grid.

In June, right before the scorching summer weather hit Texas, Abbott rejected a bill aimed at enhancing energy efficiency in newly built structures, arguing that reducing property taxes took precedence over it.

Unlike other states in the U.S., Texas is not linked to the national power grid, which limits its ability to obtain power from other regions during shortages or failures.

In May, regulators cautioned that there could be a shortage of supply during the peak demand on extremely hot days.