One of the most important rooms in the state is one few Texans will ever see.
Off a quiet road in Taylor, 30 miles northeast of downtown Austin, sits the unmarked office park that houses the headquarters of the state power grid.
It’s so important that it has a clone 40 miles away in Bastrop to serve as a backup, and anyone who sets foot inside must undergo background checks.
Welcome to the Control Room.
From within it, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas executes its monumental task: managing the flow of power to 24 million customers across the state, regardless of what retailer sends the bill or what distribution company owns the wires and meters. The agency’s reach covers more than 43,000 miles of transmission lines and 550 power generation units.
