“‘Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business.’ That’s according to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who served as energy secretary for the first 2½ years of Donald Trump’s presidency. While a severe winter storm system has left tens of millions of Americans without power and killed at least 20 people across the country, Texas and its deregulated power grid have suffered perhaps most of all.”
“Since about 60% of Texas homes use electric heat, the spike in demand has put more stress on the electric grid than it has been able to cope with. And that means that many of those without power also can’t heat their homes as the Lone Star State suffers through a record-breaking cold snap. Google reported Wednesday that search interest in ‘heat’ hit a record high in Texas over the past 24 hours. What’s more, the top Google search in Texas on Wednesday was ‘When will the power be back on?’ And the top ‘is it safe’ questions from Texans include ‘Is it safe to use a propane heater indoors?’ and ‘Is it safe to burn charcoal in a fireplace?’ as people apparently look for ways to get warm while the power is out” – MarketWatch.