Dixie Electric Power Association receives its electricity from Cooperative Energy, which generates and transmits wholesale power to 11 distribution cooperatives in Mississippi. Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the regional reliability coordinator for Cooperative Energy, is responsible for maintaining the balance of the electric grid across much of the middle United States and parts of Canada. A combination of extremely cold temperatures and the loss of generating plants in neighboring states caused an imbalance in the regional system, affecting Mississippi as well as other states.
Cooperative Energy and Dixie Electric were directed by MISO to enact rolling outages to methodically reduce the electric load on the system until it could be rebalanced. The decision to enact rolling outages is not made locally and is a directive to protect the electric power grid across multiple states, hopefully preventing more extensive and prolonged outages.
All Cooperative Energy units have been running continuously and generating more electricity than was being consumed by its members; however, the loss of generating units across the southern United States placed a significant strain on the entire electric grid. The demand for electricity was at an all-time high due to bitterly cold temperatures and the winter storm. This situation was not the result of any shortage of electricity in Mississippi but came about because of issues across other southern states.