Officials ask residents to take precautions during extreme cold weather

JACKSON, Tenn. — Current weather conditions have caused concerns regarding water leaks and even power usage around the region and now officials are asking residents to take precautions.

The Jackson Energy Authority released a statement from the Tennessee Valley Authority asking all electric power consumers to reduce their use of electricity as much a possible until further notice as weather conditions have caused a tight power supply predicament.

“The Tennessee Valley has missed what they call a ‘Step 20’ which is a call for voluntary reduction of power usage from customers on a volunteer basis,” said Steve Bowers, public information officer for JEA.

This notice includes all 153 local power companies in the Tennessee Valley from residential, commercial and industrial consumers to cooperate in reducing power usage during this critical situation.

“Power is generated to meet demand, it’s not store or whatever, so as demand goes up, power generation has to go up. So the TVA is asking for us to volunteer as much as we can to reduce our home and business power consumption. The more that we can save the less power they have to generate or power that they have to buy offline from other systems to meet the power demand,” said Bowers.

In addition to limited power supply we spoke with a plumbing expert for tips to keep pipes from freezing.

Tristan Lanz with Tennessee Choice Plumbing tells us the most common calls they respond to.

“You want to leave those cabinet doors open and try to leave those faucets dripping. Be mindful that if there are any crawl space vent open you want to get those closed. Any type of cold air that can get under the house could potentially cause your water lines to freeze up,” said Bowers.

“One thing that we do run into a lot and it does really tie into this frozen weather is the lack of installation and care for the water lines. You know a lot of people don’t really prepare themselves for cold weather and then when it comes people get in a really big mess where everything is frozen under their homes,” said Lanz.

For a list of resources to help you stay weather-aware in West Tennessee, click here.

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