Many Texans lost several layers of skin last week – seared off by contact with the superheated upholstery in cars. They are also a little dehydrated by the dangerous combination of heat and humidity that has them sweating buckets just walking to or from the car and the nearest cool structure.

So when the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) tweeted to conserve electricity, it was just too much. Texans tweeted back. One of the Tweets that gained national attention was from Houston-based Twitter user Wendi M. Perez.

“I am a thick female who needs ac,” Perez told ERCOT. “I know for sure this is not the heat of my 1980s childhood. … This sun is angry and on a diet, and wasn’t hugged as a child.”

Perez also speculated that the sun has been a regular resident of Texas’ acclaimed prison facilities.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler also directed a few strong words at Gov. Greg Abbott.

“Maybe when a corporation tells the governor that an unreliable power grid is bad for business, he’ll finally listen,” Adler said on Twit ter. “He doesn’t seem to care about whether it’s bad for people.”

An investigation by the Texas Tribune published June 14 found that “tight” power grid conditions resulted from several power plants being offline during the record-setting demand.

ERCOT estimated 12,000 megawatts of generation were offline June 14. That is enough to power 2.4 million homes on a hot summer day. In a conference call with media outlets, Warren Lasher, ERCOT senior director of systems planning, said the outages were unplanned and he had no details on the cause of the outages. ERCOT said the conservation request is the first step to reducing strain on the grid.

Meanwhile, Gov. Abbott signed legislation last week that he says adequately addresses issues with the grid.

“Bottom line is that everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas,” Abbott said.

The new legislation requires plants to be weatherized and communicate more fully about outages. Those weatherization measures are not likely to begin until 2022, however.

It is that communication requirement that prompted the notification many Texans received last week.

Media outlets across the state have reported that many Texans who use smart thermostats woke up sweating last week after a company remotely raised the temperature setting in their home.

Many of the residents who experienced these changes had previously opted-in to a conservation program that granted access to the power company. Many participants are offered reduced billing costs or sweepstakes-style incentives to participate.

Many Texans balked at raising their household temperatures to 78 degrees or higher. Other ways to conserve electricity include turning off lights and pool pumps; avoiding use of large appliances such as ovens, washing machines and dryers; and turning off or unplugging unused electric appliances.