Now that we can take a bit of a breather, let's take a look at the numbers. In July alone, cooling degree days (relative measurements of outdoor air temperature used as an index for heating and cooling energy requirements) were up 21 percent over the average across the United States, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the Department of Energy. That includes a 59 percent increase in the Pacific Northwest and a 46 percent increase in New England.

August only got worse. Those numbers haven't been released yet, but several areas of the country experienced sustained triple-digit heat. In addition, "The average retail price of electricity was up 11.3 percent year to date," reported EIA, mainly due to rising fuel prices.