Updated 38m ago
Some Texans face high electricity bills
Some Texans face surprisingly high electricity bills.
Most residents conclude one of two types of contracts with energy suppliers: a higher fixed rate or variable. With variable, customers take the opportunity and can pay low rates when demand is low and higher rates when demand increases.
Houston resident Meghan O’Neill paid more than $ 2,000 in two days. Her February bill is now over $ 3,000.
“It’s like, okay, do I feed my family or run the heating, which one do I do?” O’Neill said.
Joshua Rhodes, an energy expert at the University of Texas, said flat-rate people could also pay more in the future.
“That effect will last later, you know, assessing utilities and things like that, you know, how much money they need to recoup,” Rhodes said. “… In the end, the customer always pays, you know, a little at the end of this.”
Updated at 7:47 am
San Antonio to open water distribution stations
The San Antonio Water System announced on Thursday that it will begin providing water distribution at seven pumping sites across the city. Residents are given a maximum of five liters per person and are advised to boil the water they receive as a precaution.
The City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Food Bank will also distribute bottled water to locations around the city.
San Antonio has faced water outages as a result of the winter emergency, and the San Antonio Water System released a boiling water advisory on Wednesday for customers who still have access to water.
Updated at 7:48 am
Winter storms disrupt COVID’s vaccination effort as variants spark new fears
As Americans crave their pre-pandemic lives, coronavirus vaccine distribution is slowing down as winter storms plague the US. The disease has affected not only how Americans live, but how long. Jonathan Vigliotti reports for “CBS Evening News.”
Updated at 7:49 am
34 dead from the winter storm
As of Friday morning, 34 deaths were linked to harsh winter weather in seven states.
Most deaths were recorded in Texas, with 20 residents dying from storm-related incidents. This is where they took place: Houston (7), Taylor County (6), Sugarland (4), Galveston County (2) and San Antonio (1).
Earlier this week, a grandmother and three children were killed in a house fire in Sugarland. City officials said the neighborhood had no power. The cause of the fire is being investigated.