EPB, Chattanooga’s local electricity provider, met its all-time highest demand for power in January after its crews had restored thousands of power outages during Winter Storm Fern.
Demand from EPB’s 203,300 residential and commercial electrical customers reached a record 1,359 megawatts at 7 a.m. on Jan. 27, according to data presented to the EPB board on Friday. That’s enough electricity to power more than 800,000 homes and the highest amount distributed by EPB since its creation in 1935.
EPB has estimated the cost of the storm to the utility was $4.8 million, said Ryan Keel, president of energy and communications at EPB. The utility will be able to submit $4.1 million of costs for reimbursement to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Keel said. The figure doesn’t include costs related to storm preparations.
EPB’s highest power demands on record (in megawatts):
— Jan. 27, 2026, 7 a.m.: 1,359
— Jan. 22, 2025, 8 a.m.: 1,332
— Jan. 7, 2014, 6 a.m.: 1,328
— Jan. 17, 2024, 7 a.m.: 1,321
— Jan. 8, 2015, 7 a.m.: 1,309
— Feb. 19, 2015, 6 a.m.: 1,290
— Jan. 18, 2018, 6 a.m.: 1,266
— Dec. 23, 2022, 8 p.m.: 1,214
— Feb. 21, 2025, 8 a.m.: 1,211
Source: EPB
President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for Tennessee for the storm, which opened up reimbursement opportunities for emergency costs. EPB can expect to get back around 75% of the $4.1 million, Keel said.