Tesla’s battery-powered vehicles and home battery packs have been helping customers in Texas to deal with a multi-day power shortage and unprecedented freezing temperatures, Kallanish reports.

Demand for battery storage systems is likely to increase as customers realise how helpful they can be in unforeseen situations, when grids can’t cope with demand. Customers in Texas have been reporting on Twitter and Reddit their experiences, while Tesla’s ceo Elon Musk shames the electricity agency distributing power for 90% of the state.

“My Tesla kept my family from freezing last night,” one Reddit user said.

Michael Gomez said on Twitter his battery pack supplied power to his home on “entire three days of hell” in Houston. He said he will buy a new one as further back-up, highlighting the advantages to it compared to a conventional generator, which is likely to be cheaper.

“No gas anywhere because you can’t pay with card since there is no power and [a generator] requires me to drive out every so often to get gas. Generator is also extremely loud. I don’t know why you would choose a temporary fix as opposed to a permanent one,” says Gomez.

Jumping on the bandwagon, Musk slammed Texas’ power grid manager, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), as unreliable.

“ERCOT is not earning that R,” he tweeted. Later, he said Tesla battery packs could offer a solution to grid constraints amidst very high demand.

Tesla and Neon are building Australia’s largest battery storage system in the Victoria state.

ERCOT reported on 15 February a peak winter demand in Texas of 69,150 megawatts. This was 3,200 MW higher than the previous peak in January 2018, it said. Power has been re-established in some areas, but blackouts continued at time of writing on 19 February.