Live Updates: Texas power outages falling amid drinking water shortage following winter storm devastation – CBS News

Some Texans are going to be dealing with surprisingly high electric bills.

Most residents enter into one of two types of contracts with energy providers: a higher fixed rate or variable. With variable, customers take the chance and can pay low rates when demand is low and higher rates when demand rises.

Houston resident Meghan O’Neill paid over $2,000 in two days. Her February bill is now more than $3,000.

“It’s like, OK, do I feed my family or do I run the heat, which one do I do?” O’Neill said.

Joshua Rhodes, an energy expert at the University of Texas, said that those with fixed rates could also pay more in the future.

“That effect will take later as, you know, utilities and the like assess, you know, how much money that they need to recoup,” Rhodes said. “… Eventually the customer always pays, you know, kind of at the end of this.”

The San Antonio Water System announced Thursday that it will begin providing water distribution at seven pump locations around the city. Residents will receive up to five gallons per person and are advised to boil the water they receive as a precautionary measure.

The City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Food Bank will also provide bottled water distribution at sites around the city.

San Antonio has experienced water outages due to the winter weather emergency, and the San Antonio Water System on Wednesday issued a boil water advisory for customers who still have access to water.

As Americans yearn for their pre-pandemic lives, the distribution of coronavirus vaccines is hitting delays as winter storms pummel the U.S. The disease has not only impacted how Americans live, but how long. Jonathan Vigliotti reports for “CBS Evening News.” 

As of Friday moring, 34 deaths were linked to the severe winter weather across seven states. 

The most deaths were recorded in Texas, with 20 residents dying from storm-related incidents. Here’s where they occurred: 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 been without power. The cause of the fire is under investigation.