make feel cooler texans bake electricity usage hits record today cool spell expected grip texas plunging temperatures around 100 nice respite 105 plus temperatures stilled state sent electricity peak loads new records last week third time year electric reliability council texas ercot industry coalition administers state power grid serves 85 state electric load reported friday preliminary numbers indicated electricity usage reached time peak high third time 44 days last thursday texans using 57 731 mw power course weekend temperatures expected climb high 112 locations state time labor day picnics new usage record last thursday broke previous record set day wednesday consumers used 55 994 mw power two broken records broke record set six weeks earlier july 19 texans used 55 796 mw power peak load august 1999 54 849 mw power peak load august 1998 53 689 mw power