Oklahoma at High Risk of Winter Blackouts Due to Growing Electricity Demand, According to Report

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Oklahoma is among the nation’s highest-risk states for blackouts and electricity shortfalls this winter according to a report from The North American Electric Reliability Corp.

Experts say if an intense winter storm hits Oklahoma this year, many Oklahomans could face power outages and blackouts, like they did back in February of 2021 when an extreme winter storm caused power outages for days throughout the state.

Oklahoma is one of several states that could fall short of electricity during extreme winter weather.

“About two-thirds of the country is at risk for outages including Oklahoma,” said National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) CEO Jim Matheson, “The reason is pretty simple, and that is that we’re using more and more electricity demand is growing, but supply is not keeping up.”

What’s causing the demand to continue to grow? Matheson says technology,

“Think about all the things you plug in in your home, all the use of computer storage now,” he said, “So these data storage facilities and computer farms, data farms, we’re needing more and more electricity in this country every day.”

Matheson says the increase in energy demand is a good thing but the country needs additional electricity capacity to keep up,

“It means our economy is growing, it means technology is giving us new opportunities,” said Matheson, “But we’ve got to make sure that we build new electric generation capacity to keep up with that.”

Experts say this is a trend that has been going on for a few years,

“If that trend continues, then the risk becomes greater and greater every year,” Matheson said, “The trend has taken us in the wrong direction. And we need some public policy changes to allow for building additional electricity capacity in this country. That’s how we get out of this risky situation.”

Matheson says the best way to get ahead of the problem before it becomes a greater one is to talk to elected officials,

“This isn’t a red or a blue issue is it… everybody uses electricity in this country,” said Matheson, “We got to make sure our policymakers understand that we need reasonable public policy that allows us to build things in this country to power our economy. It’s that simple.”

To prepare for potential power outages this winter, experts say to keep extra batteries on hand as well as flashlights and candles.

For more tips on how to prepare for a power outage, click here.