Frustrations are mounting across southeast Texas as residents enter a fourth day of crippling power outages and heat, a combination that has proven dangerous – and at times deadly – as some struggle to access food, gas and medical care.

More than 1.3 million homes and businesses across the region are still without power after Beryl slammed into the Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, leaving at least 11 people dead across Texas and Louisiana.

Many residents are sheltering with friends or family who still have power, but many can’t afford to leave their homes, Houston City Councilman Julian Ramirez told CNN. And while countless families have lost food in their warming fridges, many stores are still closed, leaving government offices, food banks, and other public services scrambling to distribute food to underserved areas, he said.

  • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    4 months ago

    Yes. We understand that the difference is the lack of redundancy in your grid due entirely to profiteering and cost cutting.

    • protist@mander.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      13
      ·
      4 months ago

      You’re literally the only person who has had anything productive to say here, so when you say “we,” I’m not sure who you’re referring to. Yes, better grid redundancy would mitigate outages. At the same time, I’d like to see any kind of evidence that Houston has poor grid redundancy compared to any other city of comparable density, or that “profiteering and cost cutting” have played a role.

      My previous point stands that ERCOT and the Texas Interconnect being independent has absolutely nothing to do with this

      • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        Except that the only reason your grid is independent is so they can cut corners on quality and soak you for every penny they can. If they were connected to the rest of the country they’d have to conform to superior codes.

        • protist@mander.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          11
          ·
          4 months ago

          That’s not “the only reason” though? The Texas grid was created in like the 40s…today’s politics really didn’t apply

          • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            Of course today’s politics apply! Nothing about the 1940s applies to today’s grid. They’ve had 80 years to get your lousy grid up to a modern standard and every year the rest of us have to bail your state out when it inevitably breaks down. They’ve had 80 years to soak you suckers for every last penny they can, but instead of making them fix their hardware and lower prices, you’d rather strut around bragging you could be your own independent country. It doesn’t make y’all look good.

            • protist@mander.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              11
              ·
              edit-2
              4 months ago

              Uhhh…what bailouts are you talking about? What have you done for us exactly?

              What happened in Houston here was a hurricane knocking down power lines, not a “grid failure.” The complaint is that it’s taking Centerpoint Energy 48-72 hours longer to restore power than they probably could have if they had more effectively prepared.

              It should be noted my utility rates (at my municipal utility, owned by the City of Austin) are really reasonable, well below national averages, so I don’t know how you think I’m being “soaked for every last penny.”

              • lakeeffect@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                4 months ago

                Power in TX is about .09/kilowatt hour where as in MI it’s .215 during the summer. This is slightly SE of houston in an area not connected to the ERCOT grid. Power was also out for ~4 days for all the reasons you mentioned.