Texas Border Business
The Texas Tribune
Texas officials signed an order on Sunday temporarily preventing electricity providers from sending bills to residents. The order is a stopgap measure to give officials time to address a spike in some residents’ bills. Officials also signed an order to stop utility providers from cutting off service to residents who haven’t paid their bills.Â
This comes after many reports of Texas residents getting costly energy bills. One Texan, according to The New York Times, received a $16,752 electric bill. If you already received a costly bill, please reply to this email to let us know. We want to talk with you.Â
Water: On Sunday, about 10 million residents were still under water boil notices. Houston — the state’s largest city — lifted its boil notice on Sunday afternoon. If you still don’t have running water, check with neighbors, relatives or friends with running water who are able to travel and share. Federal and state officials are working to make water bottles available across Texas, so check your local news for locations providing free water.
If you’re under a boil water notice and you have running water, here’s what you need to know: Water used for brushing teeth, cooking food, washing produce, feeding babies with formula and giving water to pets needs to be boiled or come from water bottles. Let water boil for two minutes and allow it cool before using it. Unboiled water is safe for showering and bathing as long as it doesn’t go into your mouth, but for children and babies, it may be safer to do a sponge bath with boiled water to ensure they don’t accidentally swallow untreated water. We have more information and resources here.
