ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service (ECRS)

The ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service (ECRS) is a service provided by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to ensure the reliability and stability of the electricity grid in Texas.

Contingency reserve services are a type of ancillary service that grid operators use to maintain system reliability during unforeseen events or emergencies. The purpose of these services is to ensure that there is enough power available to meet electricity demand even if unexpected disruptions occur, such as a sudden generator failure or an unexpected increase in demand.

ECRS is expected to play a crucial role in ensuring the availability of electricity during these contingencies. It involves the procurement and management of additional reserve capacity beyond the normal electricity supply to handle potential system disturbances. The contingency reserves act as a backup power source that can be rapidly dispatched to the grid when needed.

Typically, these contingency reserves are provided by power plants or other resources that are capable of quickly ramping up their generation or reducing their consumption to help balance the grid during contingencies. The costs associated with procuring and maintaining these reserves are recovered through charges or fees included in the overall electricity rates paid by consumers.

From a customer's perspective, the ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service helps ensure the reliability of the electricity supply. By maintaining an adequate reserve capacity, ERCOT aims to minimize the risk of power outages or disruptions during unexpected events, which could have an impact on your daily life.

For more specific and up-to-date information about the ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service (ECRS) and its implications for customers, please visit www.ERCOT.com for the most accurate and current details.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

What is ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service?

ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service (ECRS) is a new ancillary service product that has recently been created and implemented by ERCOT. For restoring or maintaining the frequency of the ERCOT System or providing capacity for large and sustained net-load ramps, ECRS is a service that is offered utilizing capacity that can be maintained at a specific level for two straight hours.

Why is there a new charge on my bill?

As more intermittent generation resources are interconnected to the grid and electricity demand continues to increase year after year, ERCOT must adapt to maintain a reliable supply of electricity for all consumers. Faced with these challenges, ERCOT has re-designed the ancillary service market to maintain the grid reliability. Because changes like these are outside of all suppliers’ control, such events are addressed in your Terms of Service. Pursuant to our Terms of Service, this increased cost is passed through to you on your bill and in turn paid directly to ERCOT.

How much will ECRS cost?

The cost for ECRS is not able to be known in advance. The eventual costs will result from the supply and demand balance within the Day-ahead Ancillary Service market and the costs are expected to fluctuate from day to day. The costs incurred by APG&E for ECRS will be passed through to all customers without markup.

Where can I find out more about ECRS?

ERCOT hasn’t posted consumer-focused information on ECRS yet, but this presentation does provide more details about the creation of ECRS and some of the related changes to the Ancillary Service market.

https://www.ercot.com/files/docs/2022/06/15/Intro_FFRA_ECRS_Projects_06152022_v0_presentation.pptx