Texas Hit By Freezing Cold, Enacts Rolling Blackouts

Like many states, Texas is experiencing uncharacteristic cold spells. This has caused state agencies to enforce rolling blackouts.

What To Know: More Texans are heating their homes than normal, causing a big strain on the power grids in Texas. In addition to the increase in demand for energy, wind turbines are freezing, making it even harder to power the state.

"More than 2 million Texas homes and businesses were without power Monday morning," according to The Weather Channel. "The agency that oversees Texas' electric grid said rotating outages, which began overnight, are likely to continue after the extreme winter weather forced generating units to trip and go offline, according to KXAS-TV."

Why It Matters: The high in Dallas for Monday is 19 degrees Fahrenheit. The average temperature in Dallas for Feb. 15 is around 56 degrees, according to weatherspark.com.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) posted a conservation alert on its website. The council is also asking people not to do laundry, use appliances as well as being modest with the thermostat.

"We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages. We are asking Texans to take some simple, safe steps to lower their energy use during this time."

Red-Hot Torchlight: The added focus on energy demand in Texas could bode well for companies like Torchlight Energy Resources Inc TRCH, an oil and gas company located in Texas. The stock traded up more than 145% last week.

While clean energy companies have grabbed the attention of investors, the price of crude oil has been steadily increasing throughout the past few months. Increased travel once more vaccines are administered is also expected to increase the demand for oil.

Temperatures in Texas are expected to increase later in the week, thus lowering the demand for heating and energy.