Alberta’s third grid alert ends, two hours later than planned

Alberta’s third grid alert in as many days has ended.

Albertans were called on once again to reduce their electricity use on Sunday to avoid any potential rotating outages for the third day in a row. The Alberta Energy Service Operator (AESO) was asking people to reduce consumption to only essentials until 8 p.m. GMT. However, the operator didn’t announce that it was over until after 10 p.m. GMT.

“We have returned to normal market conditions,” it said in a post on X. “Thank you for your conservation efforts, and major kudos to our System Controllers and industry partners for ensuring power continues to flow throughout the province.”

Minister of Affordability and Utilities Nathan Neudorf stressed on X to Albertans to help prevent outages.

“We are in a similar situation to last night and are asking for everyone to conserve power by using only essential electricity and to help prevent outages,” his post reads.

“We did great work last night, we need to do it again tonight.”

The following is a list of tips recommended by the AESO to help reduce electricity use:

• Turn off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances.
• Minimize the use of air conditioning/space heaters.
• Delay the use of major power-consuming appliances such as washers, dryers and dishwashers until after peak hours.
• Use cold water for washing clothes—most of the energy used goes to heating the water (only running full loads helps too).
• Delay charging electric vehicles and/or plugging in block heaters.
• Cook with your microwave, crockpot or toaster oven instead of the stove.
• Limit the use of kitchen or bathroom ventilation fans.
• Use motion-detector lights in storage areas, garages, and outdoors when possible.
• Work on a laptop instead of a desktop computer (laptops are more energy-efficient than desktop units).

Meanwhile, Alberta continues to experience extreme cold temperatures, with Environment and Climate Change Canada warning Calgary and Edmonton residents to expect wind chills of up to -50 and periods of dense ice fog.

Edmonton recorded a temperature of -35 C Sunday, with Calgary at -28 C.

The national weather agency said despite somewhat warmer temperatures on the way for Alberta, a hazardous frostbite warning remains in effect. Highs of just -21 C are forecast for Edmonton and Calgary on Monday.

This is the third day the AESO has announced a grid alert.

It issued grid alerts Friday and Saturday, and Neudorf warned there was a high risk of rotating outages Saturday night, which did not occur.

-With files from The Canadian Press and Emma Crawford