When arctic temperatures sweep through the area, residential and business heating units work overtime to maintain the indoor temperatures desired by the occupants. Not only do the heating units run for longer periods of time, but some units also switch on internal heating elements to produce additional heat. This causes the demand for electricity to increase substantially during these times of abnormally cold weather.

For the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), this places a strain on their generating facilities to produce enough electricity to supply their 9 million plus customers in seven different states. On January 17th, as the average valley temp dipped to 12 degrees, TVA set an all time record for supplying 706,000,000 kilowatt-hours of energy over a 24 hour period. The peak demand for that day was 31,639 megawatts, which was their twelfth highest winter peak on record. As a point of reference, this amount of energy would supply Las Vegas for 88 days.

TVA and HES would like to thank area residents and businesses who looked for ways to reduce their load during the cold snap, assisting TVA in being able to supply enough electricity for all of their customers. For additional information from TVA about the January 17th record, click here.