New reports from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and the ERO Enterprise highlight measurable improvements in the electric industry’s cold weather preparedness, while underscoring the need for continued vigilance to address winter reliability risks, NERC said on Nov. 5.
The findings show that 99% of total net winter capacity in the continental United States reported the ability to operate under extreme cold weather temperatures during the winter of 2025–2026.
The ERO Enterprise is the collective system formed by NERC and its six Regional Entities.
The findings reflect ongoing industry efforts to strengthen winter preparedness, including implementation of NERC’s Cold Weather Preparedness Standards (EOP-012-3), improved coordination, and assessing lessons learned from previous extreme weather events, NERC said.
As part of its continued focus on mitigating cold weather reliability risks, NERC has launched a new initiative page that brings together key activities, reports, guidance, and resources to support industry preparedness.
NERC’s Cold Weather Data Annual Report, submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on October 1, analyzes industry performance on implementing freeze protection measures and preparing generating units for extreme cold.
The findings indicate these actions may be contributing to improved industry preparedness and helping mitigate the reliability impacts of extreme cold weather on generating units. A large majority of generating capacity operated at temperatures requiring freeze protection measures, while relatively few units experienced reliability issues requiring Corrective Action Plans (CAPs).
Key findings include:
- A large majority of the total capacity (94%) operated at cold weather temperatures below 32 degrees, requiring them to implement freeze protection measures.
- Units making up 4.3% of capacity are implementing CAPs to address reliability issues, and 60% of these plans will be completed before the winter of 2026–2027. A small percentage of units (7.4% of the total capacity) declared a constraint that precluded them from implementing corrective actions.
- Forced outage rates in winter 2024–2025 and winter 2025–2026 were consistent with historical performance as reported in NERC’s annual State of Reliability report.
NERC and the Regional Entities also released ERO Enterprise Themes and Best Practices: Extreme Cold Weather, which identifies significant and measurable improvements in cold weather performance since Winter Storm Uri in 2021.
Important drivers include NERC Reliability Standards, improved coordination between stakeholders, advance fuel procurement, and enhanced winter preparedness. It also outlines best practices to help entities further strengthen their readiness in leadership and culture, safety, processes and procedures, and equipment design and protection.
“Industry is rising to the challenge of protecting the grid during periods of extreme cold,” said NERC President and CEO Jim Robb. “Coupled with our recent joint report with FERC on winter system performance, it’s clear that improved preparation is making a difference with no significant system disruptions over the past winter. While that is good news, the bulk power system continues to face serious reliability risks during the winter period. With the next winter approaching fast, NERC will work to the full extent of its authority to assess vulnerabilities and ensure we help keep the lights on.”
Supporting Continued Cold Weather Preparedness
To support continued efforts to address this risk area, NERC has launched a dedicated initiative page that brings together key reports and analyses, guidance, and risk mitigation activities.
The page provides stakeholders with a centralized resource hub for understanding the ERO Enterprise’s efforts to identify vulnerabilities, strengthen preparedness, and support reliable operations during extreme winter conditions.
The ERO Enterprise will continue to monitor bulk power system performance, evaluate the effectiveness of existing measures, and identify opportunities to address winter reliability risks.
