This has been an extremely hot summer for most of the United States.

I live in the South where summers are always hot and humid, but this summer has just been ridiculously hot with more days in the 90s than I’ve ever seen since I’ve been living down here.

There are some places across the country that have instructed residents to not set their thermostats lower than a certain temperature in order to help ease the strain on the power grid.

For others, however, they didn’t ask you to lower it, they forced it. Residents in Colorado got a surprise when the company actually locked them from being able to adjust their home’s temperature.

When thousands of Xcel customers in Colorado tried adjusting their thermostats Tuesday, they learned they had no control over the temperatures in their own homes. via @jaclynreporting https://t.co/mgLEC6SEzR

— Denver7 News (@DenverChannel) September 1, 2022

The Denver Channel reported,

During the dog days of summer, it’s important to keep your home cool. But when thousands of Xcel customers in Colorado tried adjusting their thermostats Tuesday, they learned they had no control over the temperatures in their own homes.

Temperatures climbed into the 90s Tuesday, which is why Tony Talarico tried to crank up the air conditioning in his partner’s Arvada home.

“I mean, it was 90 out, and it was right during the peak period,” Talarico said. “It was hot.”

That’s when he saw a message on the thermostat stating the temperature was locked due to an “energy emergency.”

22,000 people lost control of temperatures in their homes for hours Tuesday

When thousands of Xcel customers in Colorado tried adjusting their thermostats Tuesday, they learned they had no control over the temperatures in their own homes.

Thousands of Xcel customers locked out of thermostats during ‘energy emergency’

On social media, dozens of Xcel customers complained of similar experiences — some reporting home temperatures as high as 88 degrees.

Once again, this proves that this rush to clean energy isn’t going to cut it. If they want to do something to ease the pain, they should buy all home owners a solar panel setup and let them help contribute to easing the use of fossil fuels. This won’t fix the problem, but it would help a lot.