Tips to stay cool as significant heatwave approaches West Tennessee

JACKSON, Tenn. — The heat is on here in West Tennessee and local power companies are making plans to assist residents during the coming days.

Some, like Benton County Electric System have already enacted plans like pay-as-you-go services and disconnects have been halted through Tuesday, July 29.

TVA has asked customers to voluntarily reduce power usage and provided some tips on how to do so.

TVA advises to postpone using larger appliances until the evening, raise your thermostat to 78 during the day, and turn off lights and electrical equipment that are not in use.

Steve Bowers with JEA explains how cranking up the a/c also drives the utility bill up.

“A utility bill is driven by usage and so the thing that can change is just the usage part of the utility bill. My usage is usually driven by my heating and air conditioning costs depending on season,” said Bowers.

If you are looking for ways to bring your bill down, but still keep safe from the heat, try these tips.

• Open a window and use a box fan to cross-ventilate a room. The window will pull out hot air and the fan will enhance the breeze.
• Set your ceiling fans to spin counter clockwise. This will send the air downward, providing a wind chill effect.
• If your kitchen or bathroom have exhaust fans, run them.
• To block out the sun, line a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil and place it in your window. This won’t work as well if the window doesn’t receive direct sunlight.
• You can use water to keep yourself cooler as well.
• Along with hydrating to stay safe, you can take cooler showers and use cool–not cold–compresses on your wrists, neck and armpits.

Try some or all of these over the weekend as the heat begins to soar.

Gibson and Southwest Electric have both internally enacted plans, but have not released what those plans are.

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