Chris Bell.com

No matter what corner of the state you hail from, no matter what you do for a living or what party you’re registered with to vote, one thing we all can come together and agree upon is surely this: Texas summers are HOT.

Go stick your head out the window right now for two minutes to remind yourself that along about July, a particularly relentless southern brand of solar radiation begins to beat down and mixes with moist coastal air to create a stifling blanket of humid-hot that seems to just park itself over the entire state, turning Texas into a virtual oven for a good part of the year.

Paying the air conditioning bill has become a new issue in the governor’s race, with Democratic candidate Chris Bell on Tuesday joining consumer groups in calling for a suspension of utility disconnections for the remainder of the summer.

Last month, several consumer organizations and a state agency charged with protecting utility customers urged regulators to prohibit nonpayment disconnections through Sept. 30. They argued that with the intense heat of summer and record high rates, disconnections could put Texans at risk. The Texas Public Utility Commission is expected to consider that request July 20.

On Tuesday, Bell joined those calls, saying that the Legislature’s raid on a fund that assists low-income utility customers necessitated the moratorium.