Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed the order for Southwest Power Pool.
It covers Texas Louisiana Arkansas Missouri Iowa North Dakota South Dakota Nebraska Oklahoma Kansas Colorado Wyoming Montana New Mexico Arizona Minnesota and Utah.
Hot weather is stressing the grid.
SPP can now force specific plants online and tap backup generators.
This is the final tool before Level 3 alerts and possible rolling outages.
DOE says more than 35 gigawatts of unused backup power sits available nationwide.
About 20 million people live in the affected area.
Trump admin frames it as fixing grid weakness left by prior policies.
Power outages already cost Americans $44 billion a year according to DOE numbers.
The order is a last resort before issuing Level 3 Energy Emergency Alerts, which could lead to rolling blackouts throughout the U.S. https://t.co/KJbhonkUOd
— KGW News (@KGWNews) July 27, 2026
Grid operators keep discovering they need extra plants right when people turn on the AC. Backup generators sitting idle until the government says go. At this rate summer heat will keep writing the energy policy for us.
Official DOE announcement: https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-secretary-secures-grid-across-17-states-amid-period-hot-weather
LiveNOW from FOX coverage: https://www.livenowfox.com/news/doe-issues-emergency-order-western-grid-operator