Widespread power outages with several inches of snow in Texas and the US, Feb 2021

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dixiegirl1035 said:
I've gone down the rabbit hole to try to understand (ignorant here) why Texas doesn't want to join the others. Bottom line, is it cheaper for folks living there? I just keep seeing articles stating "independence from the government" but that doesn't make sense to me. There are times that one area can give to another, and get $$ for sharing...

This is one article that I've tried to educate myself, and may be slanted? I have no idea. I just don't understand why any state would not want to share and cost share.

Can anyone enlighten me past this article for which I'm just learning? Why does Texas have its own power grid?
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Before they deregulated power in Texas, my electric ran towards $1000 a month for AC. Now, it’s barely $150.00 per month. Same house, same windows etc. Competition must have driven prices down. I’m not sure of the entire power deregulation history but that’s a HUGE difference to me.
 
EGirl said:
The inside of my house was 28 degrees on tuesday. We did have bottled water and food on hand. The problem is none of us thought that ERCOT would turn off power to millions of people in freezing temps. Our power didn't 'go out', our power was shut off. Then our water. It has been an absolute nightmare. Hopefully after pipes are fixed we can get water. Our stores are completely bare.
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Just absolutely brutal.
 
Midwestmom2019 said:
Before they deregulated power in Texas, my electric ran towards $1000 a month for AC. Now, it’s barely $150.00 per month. Same house, same windows etc. Competition must have driven prices down. I’m not sure of the entire power deregulation history but that’s a HUGE difference to me.
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It’s cheaper but at the expense of this happening. Texas isn’t part of any national grid b/c it doesn’t want to be forced to abide by federal government regulations (like winterizing equipment) because it costs money, and they gambled on this kind of cold spell not happening. If we hadn’t been separate from the rest of the country, we wouldn’t have been able to skip the preparedness required and people and animals wouldn’t have frozen to death.
I live here and I didn’t realize that TX was even on its own grid. I had no idea. I lived in MI for 1 year and the difference in utility bills thrpere as opposed to TX wasn’t noticable to me. I’d rather pay a little more and NOT have to go through this ever again. And really we’re not the ones really benefiting from the deregulation—the energy companies are. They make tons on selling their energy and don’t keep up the equipment (no regulations) and we suffer.
 
There is usually a week prior awareness of an approaching hurricane or tropical storm.

There are evacuation routes for the coastal areas to follow to areas less impacted by the storm with available resources such as hotels, water stations, food, etc.

There was no where to go because the entire state was impacted and no hotels with power and no gas stations open - so you were limited on how far you could drive.

Plus you were using the gas in your vehicle to stay warm and charge your phone.
 
nao said:
You really should open all taps in your house just a bit. It will save some pipes from bursting. Standing water will remain frozen. Moving water will unfreeze itself. You may get some spluttering from taps that is just air. Once tap is trickling a bit you can shut then open till normal. If you do not open taps pipes are much more likely to burst ..then you have no control. If people had left their taps open just a bit when the cold started they would not of frozen in first place. Manitoba information it was minus 46 the other week. Skin freezes in 30 seconds at that temp. They know how to do cold. :)
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I opened our taps a bit more than trickling. The water froze while trickling. LOL I had "stalacitites" and "stalagmites" in the kitchen sink. Pipes still burst!
 
happyday said:
It’s cheaper but at the expense of this happening. Texas isn’t part of any national grid b/c it doesn’t want to be forced to abide by federal government regulations (like winterizing equipment) because it costs money, and they gambled on this kind of cold spell not happening. If we hadn’t been separate from the rest of the country, we wouldn’t have been able to skip the preparedness required and people and animals wouldn’t have frozen to death.
I live here and I didn’t realize that TX was even on its own grid. I had no idea. I lived in MI for 1 year and the difference in utility bills thrpere as opposed to TX wasn’t noticable to me. I’d rather pay a little more and NOT have to go through this ever again. And really we’re not the ones really benefiting from the deregulation—the energy companies are. They make tons on selling their energy and don’t keep up the equipment (no regulations) and we suffer.
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Recently found out that not all of TX is on the Texas grid.

You might have heard that Texas has its own power grid. Did you know not all parts of the state use it?
 
Midwestmom2019 said:
Before they deregulated power in Texas, my electric ran towards $1000 a month for AC. Now, it’s barely $150.00 per month. Same house, same windows etc. Competition must have driven prices down. I’m not sure of the entire power deregulation history but that’s a HUGE difference to me.
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Whoa! My average power bill is less than $120 in summer. Strange that you had one for a home for $1,000 a month for AC. Can't fathom.


Thoughts going up for all the WS'ers who are affected.
 
dixiegirl1035 said:
Whoa! My average power bill is less than $120 in summer. Strange that you had one for a home for $1,000 a month for AC. Can't fathom.


Thoughts going up for all the WS'ers who are affected.
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Depending on the square footage, HVAC unit size and age, perhaps single pane windows, etc. plus factor in 100+ degree heat and 90% humidity for over 100 days in a row - $300 to $400 per month easy during the summer. Which lasts for six months.
 
The latest on the storm:

  • President Joe Biden said Friday that he expects to sign federal disaster aid for Texas once the governor's request reaches his desk and that he planned to visit Texas next week if it was not "a burden."
  • The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees about 90 percent of the state's energy production, said that emergency conditions were expected to end later Friday after no more outages had been needed Thursday night.
  • By Friday morning, more than half a million people in the United States did not have electricity — Texas topped the list with less than 200,000 power outages, according to tracking website poweroutage.us.
  • In Texas, more than 14 million people were under boil water orders in the wake of a winter storm that froze and burst pipes, creating chaos for water treatment facilities.
  • Memphis International Airport was forced to temporarily close its passenger terminal and cancel all flights because of water pressure issues.
  • Since Thursday, at least 46 deaths from 10 states have been weather-related, the majority in Texas.
Power comes back for most in Texas, but other problems pile up
 
***I’m not sure this belongs here but feel the need to post. I can hardly believe what I’m reading. 6th grade...

The family says Christian Pavon was found dead Tuesday after a brutally cold night without power inside their mobile home.

Christian was a 6th-grader filled with lots of life and joy, his family says.

In a video his mom recorded, you can see how excited he was to play in the snow for the first time on Monday. Little did his family know, this would be their last video of him.

"It was really heartbreaking to see that video, seeing that the day before he was happy, he was excited," said Jaliza Yera, Christian's aunt.

"He fell asleep. He had a shirt, a sweater, two pairs of pants, socks on," Yera said.

"It was like 2 a.m. when my brother-in-law woke up to use the restroom and made sure he even put another blanket on them," Yera said.

But Tuesday afternoon when they were headed to the store, they tried to wake Christian up. They say it was normal for him to sleep in on the days he didn’t have school.

But Christian's heartbroken mom, Maria Elisa Pineda Guzman, said they found him lifeless on his bed. She thought he was just pretending.They tried calling 911, but were waiting for a Spanish operator.

Yera rushed to the house to call 911 for them.

"She [Christian's mom] kept telling him 'wake up, wake up.' I had to walk out because when the 911 operator answered I couldn’t hold it. It was very tragic for me to see it like that," said Yera.
Texas boy dies after 2 nights in mobile home without power | wfaa.com
Already hit hard by pandemic, Black and Hispanic communities suffer the blows of an unforgiving winter storm
 
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Marysmith said:
I’m so sorry for everyone going through this. It’s so wrong and it’s awful that there is not drinking water delivery yet. It is a lesson for everyone to always be prepared. At this time I don’t have bottled water in my home either and my child and I would be suffering too if this happened to us.
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I had 3 cases of water but that doesn’t last long between 5 people. I will never again go without a full 2-3 week supply of bottled water once the supply chain stabilizes. I’ll also keep some stored for flushing toilets. If I hadn’t filled our tub, we would’ve been in a pickle.
 
imstilla.grandma said:
***I’m not sure this belongs here but feel the need to post. I can hardly believe what I’m reading. 6th grade...

The family says Christian Pavon was found dead Tuesday after a brutally cold night without power inside their mobile home.

Christian was a 6th-grader filled with lots of life and joy, his family says.

In a video his mom recorded, you can see how excited he was to play in the snow for the first time on Monday. Little did his family know, this would be their last video of him.

"It was really heartbreaking to see that video, seeing that the day before he was happy, he was excited," said Jaliza Yera, Christian's aunt.

"He fell asleep. He had a shirt, a sweater, two pairs of pants, socks on," Yera said.

"It was like 2 a.m. when my brother-in-law woke up to use the restroom and made sure he even put another blanket on them," Yera said.

But Tuesday afternoon when they were headed to the store, they tried to wake Christian up. They say it was normal for him to sleep in on the days he didn’t have school.

But Christian's heartbroken mom, Maria Elisa Pineda Guzman, said they found him lifeless on his bed. She thought he was just pretending.They tried calling 911, but were waiting for a Spanish operator.

Yera rushed to the house to call 911 for them.

"She [Christian's mom] kept telling him 'wake up, wake up.' I had to walk out because when the 911 operator answered I couldn’t hold it. It was very tragic for me to see it like that," said Yera.
Texas boy dies after 2 nights in mobile home without power | wfaa.com
Already hit hard by pandemic, Black and Hispanic communities suffer the blows of an unforgiving winter storm
Click to expand...

What a tragedy. :(
 
The tragedy in Texas has really made me review our situation at home and how we would manage this type of emergency.

Sorry to agree with Senator Cruz, if you see a bad storm coming, the best plan for us, would be to go on vacation. Stat!

That being said, if we couldn't leave, I worry about water pipes freezing up...it would happen quick. Reviewing our emergency plan, again,...which has been ongoing this year.
 
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