It's So Hot in Texas Power Use Rose to an All-Time Record
- Electricity use hit 72,192 megawatts across Texas’s system
- Wholesale electricity prices topped $1,500 a megawatt-hour
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A relentless heat wave has Texans blasting so many air conditioners that power demand rose to an all-time high on Wednesday.
The state’s power-grid manager said on Twitter that electricity use hit 72,192 megawatts across its system during the hour ended at 5 p.m. local time, surpassing a previous record of 71,110 megawatts set in August 2016. Wholesale prices for electricity secured a day in advance topped $1,500 a megawatt-hour for several hours in the region on Wednesday.