Feeling the heat: 'We're going to need every megawatt-hour we can get'

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) warned that high temperatures might be more taxing on the state's electrical grid than expected.

While the grid has apparently remained functional, wholesale prices for electricity in Harris County jumped to over $5,000 per megawatt-hour on Monday afternoon.

"ERCOT is anticipating extreme hot weather in the region Friday, May 6, through Monday, May 9, and may experience larger than normal demand for power," an unnamed ERCOT spokesperson said, as reported by Houston Daily.

"That's putting everyone on notice," Doug Lewin, president of Stoic Energy, said, as reported by Fox 7 Austin. "We're going to need every megawatt-hour we can get."

While it appears that the lights have stayed on, the cost of electricity in Harris County jumped from a typical price of $30 per megawatt-hour to as high as $5,500 on Monday afternoon, the Houston Chronicle reported. Congested transmission lines may have been the culprit, as the higher electricity demand spurred by high temperatures was unable to flow north into Houston. This resulted in high prices there compared to some negative prices elsewhere.

The price differences are intended to balance the strain on the grid, as overtaxed power lines can lead to power outages, Lewin told the Houston Chronicle. Some prices rose above the $5,000 per megawatt-hour cap imposed by ERCOT.

"The prices did go above, but only at certain resource nodes, not system-wide," the ERCOT spokesperson said, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. “The cap is an offer cap, not a price cap, and consequently congestion can push prices at certain resource nodes above the offer cap."