The Tennessee Valley Authority is operating all of its available units and buying as much power as it can on the grid today to meet what could be a record winter demand for electricity. TVA is asking the 9 million persons it serves in its 7-state region to dial down their thermostats and conserve any power they can through noon Friday to help cope with the high power demand spurred by single-digit temperatures this morning. TVA and its local power companies cooled offices and operated in partial darkness Wednesday to limit power demand.
TVA predicts the average Tennessee Valley temperature could dip as low as 6 degrees Fahrenheit today, pushing power demand above 33,000 megawatts this morning. TVA’s all-time winter peak was set during the Polar Vortex in January 2014 when electricity demand jumped to 33,352 megawatts.
TVA has alerted customers with interruptible power supply contracts that their power could be limited during the peak demand period early today. Such customers get lower rates through the year in exchange for agreeing to cut power consumption during peak-demand periods.