The city and Reliant Energy have teamed up to encourage local residents to switch to more energy efficient lights. They are urging Houstonians to switch to compact fluorescent lights, which use less energy and are a lot cooler. Which means saving money and reducing your demand for power. Which means less demand for polluting power plants. Reliant's program is called Compact with Texas. It includes CFL bulb giveaways at four local participating Home Depots this......

If you're one of the 470,000 customers on Reliant Energy's "residential service plan," congratulations, you just saved 1.7 cents per kilowatt-hour. According to the Chronicle, Reliant's new rates will bring the residential service plan in line with the company's 12-month fixed-rate plan. Customers were automatically put on this plan if they didn't switch from "price to beat" before deregulation was completed at the beginning of this year. The plan is not available to new customers.......

The Chronicle reports today that Mayor Bill White plans to announce a contract proposal for the citywide Wi-Fi network today. Among the details to be announced this afternoon is which company has been selected to build the $60 million network, which will be the largest of its kind in the United States. But in an interview with the Chronicle yesterday, White gave some of the general terms of the deal, including pricing structure. The mayor......

Mayor White is ready to party, and we're all invited to Houston's Annual Holiday Celebration downtown this Friday. Debra Duncan and Ron Trevino will join his mayorness in hosting the celebration which features lighting of the official tree, fireworks and live performances. Artists scheduled to perform include Jeff Timmons from 98 Degrees and "Houston's own Grammy award nominee Scott Gertner." Following the performances, Mayor White will flip the switch on Houston's Christmas tree. Reliant Energy,......

So we now know the two frontrunners in the bid to build Houston's citywide wi-fi network: EartLink Municipal Networks, run by Internet giant Earthlink, and Convergent Broadband, a local group with former Reliant Energy CEO Don Jordan at the helm. And that's about all we know: No official announcement has been made, though the city could name its final pick for the wi-fi vendor as early as the end of this week, according to the......

If you've gotten your first $300 summer electric bill and wondered how on earth you managed to use that much electricity, here's a deal you might be interested in: Reliant Energy is offering a few customers a device called a cent-a-meter — go ahead and take a second to process that highly sophisticated wordplay — that gives a running total of how much you're spending on electricity. The cent-a-meter looks a lot like those indoor/outdoor......

Independent gubernatorial hopefuls Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn are now independent gubernatorial candidates — both gathered more than enough petition signatures to make it on the ballot The north and west sides of the Houston area are getting the rain they missed earlier this week as heavy storms move through Jury selection began today in the retrial of Andrea Yates, who is pleading innocent of drowning her five children by reason of insanity Jerome......

Local and national innocence projects will review 45 cases from the Houston crime lab that had questionable evidence, and they plan to take on more in the future Headed to Galveston for Spring Break? Please don't drown while you're there, the Beach Patrol asks HPD's overtime plan has paid off, Chief Harold Hurtt said today: the city's skyrocketing murder rate has begun leveling off Jerry Futch, a former Reliant Energy trader, has been sentenced to......