AUSTIN — The power grid manager in Texas did not have firm estimates Wednesday for when power would be restored for Texans, millions of whom have been without electricity in frigid temperatures since early Monday.

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Electric Reliability Council of Texas President Bill Magness said he’s hopeful many customers would see electricity at least partially restored — on a rotating basis, with outages coming in and out — by later Wednesday or Thursday.

Rising temperatures over the coming days will speed the restoration process in two ways: demand will go down because customers will use less energy, and energy supply that’s affected by frozen equipment or icy roads will go up, he said.

As of midday, more than 3 million homes and businesses were without power in Texas.

Magness defended ERCOT’s move early Monday to force outages to prevent an even larger blackout.

“The operators acted quickly... based on their training to prevent an event that would have been even more catastrophic than the terrible events we’ve seen this week,” he said.

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