Cold weather drives power use up, but rates will drop in January,

Despite an increase in demand, electricity rates are expected to drop starting in January

Temperatures in Chattanooga are expected to plunge into the teens Monday and Tuesday mornings for the first time since last January, increasing energy demand in the Tennessee Valley to the highest level this winter.

The frigid temperatures will not only put a chill in the air; they also will cost a majority of homeowners who heat with electricity more to pay their heating bills. But TVA ratepayers will get a slight reprieve with a drop in the price of electricity, even while most people will end up using more power and have a higher total bill.

The National Weather Service predicted Friday that the extended cold front will keep freezing weather in Chattanooga for most of the next week with temperatures expected to fall early New Year’s morning to 19 degrees Fahrenheit and drop Tuesday morning to only 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Those will be the coldest temperatures in Chattanooga since last January, although still well above the alltime low for Jan. 2 of 0 degrees recorded in 1928.

Chattanooga’s all-time low temperature was minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit reached three times — on Jan. 2, 1985, Jan. 31, 1966, and on Feb. 13, 1899.

“This is a much longer cold snap than we usually have, but we are entering the traditionally coldest part of the winter months,” said Derek Eisentrout, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Morristown, Tenn. “We have an Arctic system moving down from the north over the central and eastern parts of the U.S. and that tends to bring us much colder-than-average temperatures.”

The cold weather Thursday morning pushed up power demand to the second highest level ever for the Tennessee Valley Authority for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. On Thursday, temperatures fell to an average 21 degrees Fahrenheit, and TVA’s peak power demand reached 26,655 megawatts.

TVA expects its demand to jump to 30,000 megawatts or more on Tuesday and again next Friday when the average temperature across the Valley on both days is expected to dip to only 15 degrees Fahrenheit across its seven-state region.

“We absolutely will be able to meet this peak demand, but we would encourage our customers to take advantage of the energy savings tips we have on our website to help save money,” TVA spokesman Scott Fiedler said Friday, noting next week’s peak demand still will be well below TVA’s all-time power peak reached in 2015 at 33,352 megawatts.

To limit energy use, TVA suggests that homeowners consider installing energy efficient thermostats, heat pumps and lights. The utility said most ratepayers also can save money by insulating ducts and pipes, changing air filters regularly and making sure windows and doors are properly sealed.

Although consumption will likely increase and boost January power bills compared with December, TVA said the price of electricity next month will drop slightly from the current rate to the lowest power rate for the start of any new year in at least five years. The lower price is due to a decline in TVA’s fuel cost adjustment, which reflects TVA’s greater reliance upon nuclear and hydro generation, which use less fuel.

TVA rates next month will be down about 1.8 percent from January 2017 due to lower fuel costs more than offsetting a 1.5 percent base rate increase adopted by TVA last summer.

“The overall system average fuel rate for January is approximately 12 percent lower than the three-year average January fuel cost,” TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said. “This is mainly due to higher expectations for hydro generation [TVA’s cheapest source of power] and slightly lower sales projections.”

TVA’s hydro generation from its 29 powerproducing dams was 21 percent above what was expected in November.

As a result, the average EPB customer in Chattanooga using 1,295 kilowatthours a month would pay an average $2.58 less than what such a customer would have paid for the same amount of power a year ago.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfree press.com or at 757-6340.