The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and its Regional Entities said today that the country’s Bulk-Power System demonstrated strong performance during extreme cold weather events earlier this year, with no significant disruptions in either the natural gas or electric systems. The report credits the improved performance to the implementation of recommendations from previous winter storm reports, as well as 202(c) emergency orders issued by the Secretary of Energy.
"These findings demonstrate the criticality of FERC’s weather reviews – not only do they guide ongoing improvements, but they tangibly strengthen our bulk electric system’s resilience and reliability," FERC Chairman Laura V. Swett said. "The progress we’ve made demonstrates that careful analysis and action can protect critical infrastructure during the most challenging conditions."
“This winter showed that the steps industry has taken are making a difference. Improved preparation and better coordination along with the implementation of cold weather standards helped the Bulk-Power System perform well under very challenging conditions,” said NERC President and CEO Jim Robb. “But the work is not finished. Both the electric and gas systems were stretched over multiple days, and multiple reliability challenges brought the system close to the edge. We cannot let this be the new norm of operating the grid. We need to continue addressing the vulnerabilities that prolonged periods of severe weather can reveal.”
The joint report, launched in March following Winter Storms Fern and Gianna, found that generator outages during those storms were comparable in magnitude to the outages experienced during the January 2025 arctic events, but with improvements compared to prior winter storms. Contributing factors include:
- Applying insights from past cold weather events and previous winter storm reports;
- Advanced commitments by generators ahead of the cold weather events;
- Strengthened preparedness and improved situational awareness;
- Implementation of NERC cold weather reliability standards; and
- Additional resource availability stemming from emergency orders issued by the Secretary of Energy.
The natural gas system also performed well throughout the extreme weather, with only moderate production declines and some limited, short-duration force majeure events reported.
Although electric and natural gas entities are implementing recommendations from previous cold weather events, additional opportunities remain to further strengthen reliability during future cold weather events, including:
- Additional build out of natural gas infrastructure;
- Improved communication and coordination between the natural gas and electric industries; and
- Improved load forecasting.
The entire report may be viewed here.