The Tennessee Valley Authority announced its availability of power had returned to normal levels and customers could resume normal power use as high temperatures began trending downward.
EPB, Chattanooga’s local power company that buys electricity wholesale from TVA, sent out a press release ending the power advisory around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
EPB announced an advisory asking customers to reduce power use Tuesday morning at TVA’s request.
TVA, the nation’s largest public power provider, often makes so-called voluntary power conservation requests during extreme temperatures in the summer and winter.
(READ MORE: TVA pulls Sequoyah nuclear reactors offline)
Summer started off hot in the seven-state region TVA serves, with average high temperatures reaching 95 degrees across the Tennessee Valley on Wednesday, TVA spokesperson Scott Fiedler said in a phone interview.
Every utility puts out conservation requests when peak electricity demands get high, Fiedler said, noting neighboring Duke Energy in North Carolina had done the same Monday and Tuesday.
“That does two things. One, it helps consumers lower their power bills and saves them money,” Fiedler said. “The second thing it does is help with system reliability.”
TVA has more than 3,000 megawatts of new power generation under construction and 5,500 megawatts total under planning. One megawatt is enough to power around 585 average homes, TVA estimates.
The Knoxville-based federally owned utility, which has an operations base and thousands of employees in Chattanooga, added 500 megawatts of fast-acting natural gas turbines at its Johnsonville plant in Middle Tennessee to meet high summer demand.
TVA said in an annual report in November that its plants could generate 32,190 megawatts in the summer. It can also purchase thousands of megawatts of electricity from other companies.
The utility projected peak demand of around 31,800 megawatts Wednesday, Fiedler said, though it had to get that electricity without one of its largest plants.
Operators at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in Soddy-Daisy powered both reactors down Tuesday morning to address non-nuclear system malfunctions. The reactors, which can generate enough power for 1.3 million homes, remained offline on Thursday, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
EPB recommended customers take steps to conserve power even as it ended the power advisory. Those tips include delaying using large appliances and increasing thermostat setting 1 degree at a time to reach the highest comfortable temperature.
Contact Daniel Dassow at ddassow@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.