The Chronicle continues live coverage Friday morning of the winter weather, which has led to a hard freeze for many parts of the region.Readers wrote in asking about turning the water to their home off and on again.
For those who don't know how to do it, you'll find the water shut-off valve at the pipe where it enters your home or at valves where your pipes connect to the city's water system. This is often in a box in your yard not far from the curb. They can be difficult to turn; an easy solution is to use a water shut-off key, which should cost less than $10 and can be found at most hardware stores.
Just after 5 p.m., five companies — Reliant, Green Mountain Energy, Stream Energy, Cirro Energy and XOOM Energy — all sent emails or public Twitter posts asking people to reduce energy use by limiting the use of large appliances. All five companies are owned by NRG. With low temperatures expected throughout Texas, your help is needed to conserve energy. Please help reduce your usage by limiting the use of large appliances. Get tips and tools to conserve.At 6 p.m., CenterPoint Energy sent out a message to customers, asking them to conserve natural gas because of record demand on its system.
At peak demand around 8 a.m. Friday, Texans used 73,963 megawatts, enough electricity to power nearly 14.8 million homes.
Power outage in Galveston Texas.😞