Very widespread power loss, very low temps, horrendous and miserable.

temp inside the house was well below freezing. Different reasons - many electric lines were above ground and were taken down by an incredible amount of tree limbs falling on them.

Once the streets thawed we got lucky and ended up in a hotel for a night.

Very similar. The storm knocked out power in much of the city. Tons of trees were destroyed, necessitating cleanup before crews could even get to many neighborhoods and knocking out thousands of miles of power lines. Many were without power for a week.

I find the "only in Texas" arguments rather short-sighted.

This was a statewide event, affecting all 254 counties, plus issues up and down the center of the country due to snow and bitter cold. Demand in TX spiked quickly and was *double* the available supply. Several other states had their own issues including rolling blackouts and wouldn't have been able to provide backup for days.

I'd be curious how many state/local systems have a buffer that large, even with their neighbors pitching in.

is that a few coal-powered plants were shut down in the past decade. While that is good for the environment, removing that excess capacity also has adverse effects.

We had a few ice storms growing up that caused major outages. I do not recall anyone having their house go below freezing temps because none of the houses there were solely reliant on one central system. And it is because of this fact that I always try to have alternatives for heating around my house. This fact is yet another example of how we have become far too lazy and dependent on people and things that are not going to have the best interest of the general welfare on their minds when something like this happens. (As well as falling for their hype that they do). I love modern technology and advanced building techniques and all that as much as anyone, but when society thinks it is 'ready' for whatever nature can do, when it thinks it is beyond the need for basic common sense preparation, then you get what happened in Texas. (Because no one lives in a 'weather' utopia). Sure, those power plant vultures should be strung up on the nearest oil rig for letting their infrastructures degrade while they swam in all their ill gotten gains, and for charging idiotic prices when they finally realized they were in trouble, but any time a person thinks they are beyond needing to be prepared... no matter where you are... spells disaster. Take it from someone who has lived through multiple hurricanes. (Hell, now I am living in Minnesota [save me please] and in a house that has nothing other than the central unit. I am terrified about this, mainly because I am a broke old fart now and cannot just go out and solve the problem. The lunacy in building anything in this part of the country, with only one heat source and vaulted ceilings, is beyond me. Probably why it was available for the price...)

For many, you can have any electric company you want as long as it's Duke Energy. And the rate is whatever Duke charges and it won't go up and down with the market.