Federal energy regulators on Wednesday launched an inquiry into bulk power systems operations during the extreme weather conditions during Winter Storm Elliott. 

FERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and NERC’s regional entities said the joint inquiry would review the “severe cold weather” last weekend that “contributed to power outages affecting millions of electricity customers across the country” (No. R23-12).

Most of these outages followed weather impacts on electric distribution facilities that are operated by local utilities. However, “utilities in parts of the Southeast were forced to use rolling blackouts, and the bulk power system in other regions was significantly stressed,” regulators noted.

[Want to visualize Henry Hub,...