SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Five years after the devastating winter storm that left millions of Texans without power, water and other services for days, local utilities say they\u2019ve made significant improvements to prevent the kind of widespread failures the state saw in 2021.<\/p>\n
The February 2021 freeze, one of the costliest natural disasters in Texas history, exposed deep vulnerabilities across the state\u2019s power grid and water systems. <\/p>\n
Now, CPS Energy and the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) say they are better prepared than ever.<\/p>\n
Earlier alerts, better tools and stronger systems<\/p>\n
CPS Energy leaders say one of the biggest changes since 2021 has been how early and often they communicate ahead of major weather threats. <\/p>\n
The city-owned utility expanded its winter preparedness campaigns and hired an in\u2011house meteorologist to track potential storms more closely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are ready for anything Mother Nature has to throw at us,\u201d said CPS Energy President & CEO Rudy Garza.<\/p>\n
In addition to improved forecasting, CPS Energy has invested heavily in new grid automation technology. That includes redesigned outage maps intended to improve transparency for customers and system redundancies to help keep power flowing even when the grid is under extreme stress.<\/p>\n
Board Chairwoman Francine Romero says those upgrades mean that if rolling outages ever became necessary again, the process would be far more equitable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we did have to cut power on a rolling basis \u2026 there would be more of a cascading of it instead of certain people being out for long periods of time,” Romero said. <\/p>\n
Water system investments<\/p>\n
The water system failures during the 2021 freeze were among the most crippling impacts on San Antonio residents. SAWS says those issues prompted some of the largest infrastructure investments in its history.<\/p>\n
Communications Director Anne Hayden says the utility has purchased roughly $300 million worth of generators, many in partnership with CPS Energy. Most pump stations now have backup generation, and all critical stations are expected to be equipped within the next one to two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if the power goes out for an extended period, we\u2019ll still be able to keep that water flowing,\u201d said SAWS Communication Director Anne Hayden.<\/p>\n
SAWS has also winterized pump stations and insulated above-ground equipment, two areas of vulnerability that contributed to widespread water outages during the freeze.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have winterized our pumps. We\u2019ve looked at our stations and insulated anything above ground,\u201d Hayden said.<\/p>\n
In a statement to KSAT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), said the power grid would be reliable should another storm come.<\/p>\n
If Texas were to experience a storm similar to Uri,\u00a0ERCOT\u00a0expects the grid to perform reliably.<\/p>\n
Weatherization requirements have improved generator performance, and recent storms show significantly fewer forced outages compared to 2021.<\/p>\n