The arctic blast that lowered overnight temperatures into the teens for most of the past week heated up demand for electricity in the Tennessee Valley to a record high, TVA announced today.
Weekly demand for TVA power reached new record highs for the seven-day period ending Sunday, records show. Total weekly energy use across the Tennessee Valley region was recorded at 4,633 gigawatt-hours. That's more than 200 gigawatt-hours higher than the previous record set Aug. 12, 2007, when air conditioners operated around the clock to keep buildings cool during a summer heatwave.
Cold temperatures last Friday also pushed total electricity consumption that day to a new daily record of 701 gigawatt-hours, surpassing the previous record of 673 gigawatt-hours.