Rolling blackouts end— again
Downtown Memphis, Tennessee can been seen as ice covers the canopy of large oak trees in Midtown Feb. 4, 2022. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
This story will be updated.
The Tennessee Valley Authority ended its rolling blackouts requirement just before 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 24, but customers in the Memphis area shouldn’t hold their breath.
It’s been back and forth since the TVA implemented its never-before-taken Step 50, which mandates rolling blackouts to prevent widespread outages amid peak power demand — and on Friday, Dec. 23, the TVA supplied more power than at any other time in its history.
“We are asking customers to be prepared in the event TVA implements rolling blackouts,” MLGW President Doug McGowen said in a statement. “We could be required to do so at any time without notice.”
After announcing rolling blackouts on Friday morning and then quickly rescinding the requirement, the TVA enacted them once again early Saturday morning.
But before the TVA called off Step 50 again, McGowen said blackouts were lasting longer than expected and extending to customers who weren’t included in the original plan.
“We appreciate your patience as we worked with our 153 local power companies and industrial customers to manage record-setting power demand,” TVA said in a statement.
The wider spread, longer blackouts are the result of the TVA upping its requirement for MLGW to reduce its load by 10%, rather than 5%.
MLGW will share updates at a noon press conference.
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MLGW TVA blackoutsKeely Brewer
Keely Brewer is a Report for America corps member covering environmental impacts on communities of color in Memphis. She is working in partnership with the Ag & Water Desk, a sustainable reporting network aimed at telling water and agriculture stories across the Mississippi River Basin.
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