Note: This story was updated at 3 p.m.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has terminated rolling blackouts in Oak Ridge.
“Everything is now going back to normal,” City of Oak Ridge spokesperson Lauren Gray said.
The mandatory rolling blackouts that affected electricity across the region and in the City of Oak Ridge were to help TVA meet the power demand today (Friday, December 23), a press release said.
The blackouts were expected to affect about 2 percent of Oak Ridge Electric Department customers and last for about 30 minutes, the press release said. The blackouts were expected across the Tennessee Valley.
They were being conducted because of the low temperatures and to meet high power demand, according to the press release, which came from the City of Oak Ridge.
Information was not available about which 2 percent of customers were affected, although there were measures in place to ensure hospitals, fire departments, and other similar operations are not without power, Gray said.
“As of this morning, temperatures are averaging in the single digits across the entire region, pushing power demand past 30,000 megawatts,” the press release said. “We expect power demand to remain near this level through Saturday.”
To help conserve electricity, TVA is asking the public to take some simple steps to reduce power use without affecting the holidays.
“Public safety is our overriding priority, so do not significantly turn down your heat, but lowering thermostats by just one or two degrees makes a big difference,” the press release said.
“Delay using washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, and high-energy-use home appliances until later on Saturday afternoon,” the release said.
Also, you should “keep window coverings closed on the non-sunny side of homes but open them if bright sunlight is available to provide additional heat,” the press release said.
Weather and outage updates will continue to be posted on the City’s social media channels including Facebook and Twitter at CityofOakRidge.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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