FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — Fort Bend County Judge KP George on Wednesday authorized the closure of all county facilities and buildings in an effort to ease the strain on Texas' power grid amid the current heat wave.
Editor's note: The above video is from KHOU 11's related coverage of the Texas power grid.
"We have a major heat emergency in our state right now and the main concern I have is for the safety and well-being of our Fort Bend County residents," George said. "I don’t want any of our residents to be without power while we are experiencing these extreme temperatures. ERCOT has issued an appeal for residents and businesses to conserve energy, so we must all do our part to reduce the electrical demand."
The decision comes after the Energy Reliability Council of Texas issued a request for Texans to conserve energy between the hours of 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday.
The county judge advised all department heads to limit energy consumption and ask all applicable employees to end their work day an hour before the normal close of business.
George is also urging all county employees to limit power usage at their homes until 8 p.m.