With this week’s heat wave pushing temperatures to a record high and local electricity rates on the rise, most Chattanooga households will be paying higher monthly power bills in coming weeks.
But the Tennessee Valley Authority and local power companies like Chattanooga’s EPB are trying to limit the effect of the hot weather and higher prices with an expanded energy conservation and efficiency program.
TVA, which plans to raise its wholesale electric rates 5.25% this fall, is also boosting the assistance it provides to help consumers use less electricity with more efficient heating, cooling, appliances and home insulation.
“Even if the rate goes up, our objective with our energy demand and efficiency programs is to help your bill go down,” TVA President Jeff Lyash told the TVA board last week.
TVA’s expanded energy rebate program that began in October has already helped nearly 43,000 residential consumers save enough electricity to cut their power bills by nearly $51.6 million and trimmed the energy bills for another 653 businesses by more than $121 million. Collectively, the energy efficiency measures have also cut emissions by more than 320,000 tons of carbon dioxide, according to TVA.