This browser does not support the Video element.
How to do an energy audit, reduce wasted energy amid Houston heatwave
Home energy bills are spiking right now in this heat wave. One way to knock them down is an energy audit to see where your home is wasting energy.
Triple-digit temperatures have been baking Texas over the past few weeks, causing power usage in the state to repeatedly hit record levels.
According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the agency charged with managing the bulk of the state’s power grid, new power-demand records have been set 11 times so far this summer.
MORE: Texas drought intensifies with little rain relief ahead
The most recent record-setting day happened Wednesday, when power usage hit a peak of nearly 80,000 megawatts, about 5,000 MW higher than the first new all-time peak that was set this summer on June 12.
ERCOT’s data also shows that the peak-demand records in each of the past three months have been shattered this year.
All-time weekend demand records have also been broken five times this summer, according to ERCOT.
MORE: Coast-to-'toast': Sweltering heat baking 100 million Americans from the West to Northeast
Is there any end in sight?
Officials at ERCOT said they expect to have sufficient power generation to meet forecast demand, which could continue to hit record levels through at least the end of July.
CPC/NOAA
CPC/NOAA
According to the Climate Prediction Center, the withering heat does not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. In its outlook published Wednesday, above-average temperatures are expected across Texas through at least the beginning of August.