Rolling blackouts were narrowly avoided during a Wednesday evening grid emergency and after 77 minutes of white knuckles, the emergency was lifted—closer than it’s been all summer to a worst-case scenario.

The last time ERCOT had to resort to load shedding was February of 2021, a statewide power and leadership failure, in which hundreds of Texans lost their lives.

Again tonight, power demand is expected to exceed capacity, and high temperatures at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit are expected for days across the state. 

Electricity is a basic component of civilized life, and the fact that Texans face this threat on the regular is a clear sign of the abject failure of decades of Republican statewide officials to put people over profits.