During the arctic blast that followed Winter Storm Fern, Central Florida saw its coldest temperatures since 2010 — something rarely experienced here. The prolonged cold placed unusual stress on the electric grid across much of the eastern United States, prompting utilities not only in Florida but as far away as North Carolina to ask customers to conserve energy.

For customers here at home, the unusual conditions sparked plenty of understandable “What is going on?” questions.

And while OUC’s system continued operating as designed, the extreme weather raised important questions about winter energy demand, infrastructure planning, growth and how solar fits into the picture. Here are answers to some of the most common questions we heard.


“OUC’s system cools my home just fine in summer — why is winter harder?”
OUC’s electric grid is built to handle our most common peak: the intense summer heat that drives air conditioning use. Extreme cold is far less common here — and puts a very different kind of pressure on the system.

In summer, cooling your home typically means lowering indoor temperatures by about 10 – 15 degrees. During the recent cold snap, heating systems were trying to make up temperature
differences of 40 degrees or more. That much larger gap takes significantly more electricity, especially when millions of heaters turn on around the same time before sunrise.

That’s exactly what happened between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sunday (2/1) and Monday (2/2), when heating demand surged across homes and businesses at the same time. Orlando’s electric demand peaked at 1,182 megawatts, approaching the city’s all-time winter peak of 1,191megawatts set in 2010.


“Why didn’t OUC just bring in more power?”
Utilities across Florida — and neighboring states — were experiencing the same extreme cold at the same time. Because there was not enough excess capacity, OUC’s ability to import additional power was limited.

Two days before the cold weather hit, the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council (FRCC) issued a Generating Capacity Advisory, warning that unusually high electricity use could increase the risk of outages. FRCC is a group of Florida utilities – investor‑owned, municipal and cooperatives – that work together to plan and operate the state’s power grid. They help make sure enough electricity is available and can be shared between utilities, even during times of high demand.


“Why not build more infrastructure to handle this?”
Electric infrastructure is planned around recurring demand patterns, including summer and winter peaks. But this situation was unprecedented as Winter Storm Fern was followed by more extreme cold weather.

Building enough generation and transmission capacity to cover the absolute highest possible demand, especially when it might only happen once every decade or more, would significantly drive-up costs for customers all year long. Instead, utilities rely on proven approaches — like temporary, voluntary conservation during extreme conditions — to keep the grid reliable without the expense of building new infrastructure so frequently.


“Isn’t population growth or data centers the real cause?”
No. This event was driven by extreme, sustained cold affecting the entire region at the same time.

OUC plans for growth every day — whether it’s new homes, businesses or data centers (none currently exist in OUC’s service territory). What made this weekend unusual wasn’t growth; it was the rare weather and the simultaneous surge in demand it created across OUC’s service territory and throughout the state of Florida.


“I use solar — why did I need to conserve too?”
Solar plays an important role in reducing overall energy use, and many customers with solar helped support conservation efforts during the cold snap.

But in the early morning hours – especially before the sun rises – solar systems produce no power unless paired with battery storage, and they rely on the shared electric grid. That’s why the conservation call included solar customers during peak morning hours.


Why your conservation mattered
When we asked our customers to use a little less energy during the coldest hours, it wasn’t because we were in a crisis – it was to prevent one. Reducing demand early helps keep the system stable and lowers the risk of later outages.

This effort wasn’t limited to residential customers. The utility also worked directly with many large commercial and industrial customers. Many shifted when buildings were warmed, moved high-energy activities to later times, or used their own backup generation for a short time. OUC also reduced our own demand by lowering temperatures at our facilities, postponing energy-intensive tasks where possible and running our own backup generation.

All of these behind-the-scenes actions – from households to major employers – collectively reflected a true community effort to protect the electric system during extreme cold.

Thanks to around-the-clock work by OUC teams and conservation steps taken across our community, the grid stayed strong, power supplies remained steady, and widespread outages were avoided. A few weather-related outages occurred due to wind and cold temperatures affecting equipment, but crews restored service quickly.

 

Thank you for partnering together
We’re genuinely grateful for how our community responded. Your actions during the coldest morning hours made a real difference — and helped keep power flowing when it mattered most.