The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on Tuesday began asking utility companies to request their customers voluntarily curtail their power usage in an effort to “reduce electric consumption” as frigid weather slows much of the country, but the federally owned power company recently told Tennessee media outlets it does not expect rolling blackouts to occur because of winter weather in 2024.
Energy companies in Alabama and Kentucky have confirmed the TVA is requesting their customers decrease their energy use, with Huntsville Utilities in Alabama explaining in a news release that “dangerously low temperatures” and “the expected high electric demand” prompted TVA to request “voluntary curtailment across their entire system.”
Similar news was posted to X, formerly Twitter, by Mayfield Electric & Water Systems in Kentucky, which forwarded TVA’s request for energy customers and distributors “to reduce their electrical use as much as possible without sacrificing safety” to “help extend the available power supply.”
Due to extreme temperatures across the region, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is asking customers of MEWS – and its other distributors – to reduce their electrical use as much as possible without sacrificing safety. This will help extend the available power supply pic.twitter.com/3cCf0dhD70
— MEWS Public (@MEWSPublic) January 16, 2024
Still, the TVA and its spokesmen told multiple media outlets that Tennessee would not see a repeat of the rolling Christmas blackouts that struck on December 23, 2022, amid Winter Storm Elliot and continued through the holiday.
TVA spokesman Scott Fiedler told Local 3 News of Chattanooga on Friday that the 2022 storm “rolled in very quickly” while the current winter weather “seems to be moving really slowly.” Additionally, Fiedler said the TVA has “been working to ensure” no future storms will be able to overwhelm the public utility company’s electric generation.
Another spokesman, Scott Brooks, explained to WATE on last week that the 2022 blackouts were “definitely a lesson learned” which exposed “vulnerabilities that we definitely wanted to get taken care of as quickly as possible.”
“We have taken the time over the last year to address every issue that we found dealing with Winter Storm Elliott,” Brooks told the outlet, adding that the changes include “adjustments to the equipment” and “adding new generation on to the system” to expand the TVA’s resources and decrease the likelihood of rolling blackouts.
The rolling blackouts of 2022 were the first in TVA’s 90-year history, and despite them hurting the federally owned corporation’s reputation in 2022, TVA reported $3 billion in operating revenue in the same year.
TVA is the largest public power corporation in the United States and generates 90 percent of Tennessee’s total electricity generating capacity. It serves more than 10 million American citizens by supplying energy to 153 local power companies for further distribution.
The TVA explained on its website that peak electricity consumption in Tennessee is expected to continue on Wednesday but will decrease over the weekend.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tennessee Valley Authority Control Room” by Tennessee Valley Authority.
