Austin, TEXAS (KXAN) — Jan Justice charged her Tesla after returning home Thursday evening. A resident of Austin’s Rosedale neighborhood, she retreated through her front door to escape lingering high temperatures.

“They’re so hot,” noted Justice. Earlier — when thermometers reached triple digits — the resident sent home contractors working on her garage. She felt the heat posed a “threat to their humanity.”

Inside her house, Justice relies on air conditioning to cool down.

“It’s hard to keep up with the outside heat,” she conceded.

But that breezy relief requires power — potentially a record-breaking amount during a string of searing days.

“We’re seeing those temperatures go up, and energy demand to go along with it,” noted Matt Mitchell. The Austin Energy public information officer said situations like this are nothing new.

“We’re used to this,” he held, “it’s a Texas summer.”

What may be new is Texas’ electric grid experiencing its highest demand. In a statement, the Energy Reliability Council of Texas reports the state’s power demand reached 91,000 megawatts July 22 — an “unofficial” peak. ERCOT clarified the current record, for now, stands at 85,508 MW set on August 10, 2023.

But data from the council shows supply far exceeding demand. Its supply and demand graph for July 23 show a roughly 20 GW gap, meaning there’s enough electricity left in Texas to power 20 million homes.

“The local grid is very solid,” added Mitchell. “We’re very pleased with the way it’s looking, and the way that it’s responding.”

The Austin Energy PIO credited the “local strength” to a wide array of energy sources around the community, including solar and biomass.

“It’s a lot of careful planning about what our resources need to be — what our generation portfolio mix needs to be — to make sure that when our customers hit that light switch, the lights always come on,” said Mitchell.

ERCOT’s database also shows what sources empower Texas’ electricity. For July 23, natural gas made up about half of the “fuel mix,” with solar (during daylight) providing a third.

Besides a diverse power portfolio, planning ahead between Austin Energy and ERCOT also offers grid stability, according to Mitchell.

“Well before the heat of the summer, so that all of our power and infrastructure is ready to go. We have extra supplies on hand.”

Justice mentioned her Rosedale neighborhood, the “hospital district,” rarely lost power, even during 2021’s winter storm. Although she wasn’t completely confident in the state’s grid, the resident plans to spend her energy on a puzzle inside amid the heat.

“Air conditioning is essential,” she contended.

ERCOT added it’ll use higher quality meter readings to determine whether July 22’s 91,000 MW is record-breaking. A timeframe for that wasn’t available.

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