Several utilities on Thursday urged U.S. customers to cut back on power and gas consumption during a brutal freeze blanketing the eastern half of the country after homes and businesses used record amounts of natural gas for heating on Wednesday. Harsh arctic winds brought record-low temperatures across much of the Midwest, causing at least a dozen deaths and forcing residents who pride themselves on their winter hardiness to huddle indoors. As consumers cranked up heaters to escape the bitter cold, gas demand in the lower 48 U.S. states jumped to a preliminary record high of 145.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) on Wednesday, according to financial data provider Refinitiv. That topped the current all-time high of 144.6 bcfd set […]