megawatts, at leas doubling new york s projected summer peak and california s current usage. power generation is keeping up with near record temperatures. right now there 4%, 5% extra capacity. but last week available levels dipped low enough, texans were asked to conserve toda ercot, the air traffic controller for the power flow, said that strategy worked. i am always worried that the system could be overtaxed, so that s why i prepare on bot monday and wednesday of last week, the conservation efforts of every texan helped preven us from going into emergency. reporter: texans counting on the help and reliability, still struggling to keep up with costs this 83-year-old in houston has seen he energy bill spike up nearly 200%. i run fans, don t even run the ac because it s just too expensive reporter: nationally household electric bills are
sales plunging as mortgage rates rise. what it means for buyers and sellers. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening, everyone as the heat tightens its scorching grip, in some places, it s one eye on the thermometer and the other on the electricity meter. texas in particular seeing nearly unprecedented power usage as triple-digit temperatures continue to drive people indoors, testing the power grid nationwide electric bills are already expected to climb 20% over last year, to a average of $540. roughly a third of americans right now under heat alert yesterday saw a dozen record highs broken. more expected today. parts of the desert southwest could see a dangerous 115 degrees. and th heat now pumping into the east and south washington, d.c., bracing for a possible high of 100 by sunday.
expected to jump about 20% to an average of $540 for the summer as the country confronts an outdated system. is this a texas problem or a national problem? our grid problem is a national problem, not just texas and california texas and california have gotten there first. reporter: families hoping it s addressed soon with so much on the line sam, you walked us through the numbers. beyond the current heat wave, why does texas consume so much more energy than everyone else? reporter: texas has a lot of people, 30 million people, california 40 million. texas, in addition to to the hottest temperatures in the country, it has a massiv industrial footprint, petrochemicals and refineries that drain energy combine the two things, that puts texas at the top of the list. right to dylan dreyer for the forecast when does this end i wish i had an answer, this is going to continue. heat advisories coast-to-coast and record-breaking
philadelphia under a heat advisory through the weekend. ou team in place tonight with the very latest and we begin with sam brock reporter: the blistering heat wave blanketing the u.s. continues to crank out record temperatures. terribly hot. i mean, i can t handle it reporter: two out of every three americans experiencing heat above 90 degrees. some cities setting new daily highs. dallas at 109, albuquerque at 102, wichita falls, texas, a whopping 115 while americans try anything to weather the onslaught, tonight unrelenting heat in texas is testing the state s energy consumption, which is expected to swell to levels never seen before, using equipment that in some cases dates back half a century. these are not designed to run full out year round everybody built these for august and september. everyone in texas knows that s when it gets really hot. reporter: record usage here even more stark when stacked up to other large states. texas at 80,000
northeast, and in texas, more wildfires racing as power use in the state reaches an all-time high. testing the grid, will it hold up? all while summer electric bills soar, going up 20% for most americans. how long will this heat wave last plus severe weather in the forecast tonight. growing outrage over the missing secret service text messages, our exclusive reporting on what the secret service was told before those texts were deleted will a bipartisan push on same-sex marriage survive in the senate with growing concerns of supreme court reversal russia s new warning to ukraine as we speak exclusively with ukraine s first lady her new appeal to americans to not forget about the war and her fears for ukraine s children our exclusive report new concerns about dirty bombs, how easy it is to get hold of the radioactive material that makes them. hit in the housing market