TVA Requesting for Power Conservation

Weather forecasts are predicting some of the coldest temperatures in the last 30 years in parts of the TVA service area and as a result TVA is requesting that all customers conserve electricity as much as possible beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday, February 18.

Demand is expected to reach an all-time high Thursday morning at 33,500 megawatts.

VEC has taken steps to meet this high demand and protect the power distribution system. Customers are asked to conserve energy as much as possible, beginning at 3 p.m. Wednesday through midday Thursday.

Some suggested energy conservation measures are:

Consumers can reduce their power consumption and lower their power bills by:

Turning down the thermostat. Lowering the temperature just one degree can result in a savings of up to 3 percent.

Postpone using electric appliances such as dishwashers, dryers and cooking equipment.

Turn off nonessential lights, appliances, electronics and other electrical equipment.

For more energy saving tips, visit www.vec.org.

As of 10:57 a.m. Eastern Time VEC crews are working to restore power to about 3,600 customers who have lost power due to the accumulation of ice and snow on trees and tree limbs – causing them to fall into power lines.

The hardest hit areas in VEC’s service area include Cumberland County with 1,449 outages, Roane County with 778 outages, Rhea County with 684 outages, McMinn County with 417 outages, and Meigs County with 167 outages.

Scattered outages have occurred across VEC’s 17-county service area.

VEC’s operations department reports they are hopeful that they will be able to restore power to all affected customers Wednesday, but additional outages may occur as the winter storm continues to drop heavy snow and ice in many areas of VEC’s service area.

“We have called in extra crews and contract crews and we will continue working non-stop until power has been restored to all affected customers,” said VEC Vice President of Operations Clyde Jolley. “We apologize for any inconveniences, but we will continue to work around-the-clock until we get all the damage repaired.”