Power bills expected to rise significantly following winter storm, utility company shares advice

4 hours ago

Nyana Whitelaw,

JACKSON, Tenn. — Following the recent winter storm, residents may notice a significant increase in their next utility bill.

Steve Bowers with the Jackson Energy Authority tells us rates have remained steady over recent years, but higher usage is driving costs up for consumers. And it will be reflected in the next billing cycle.

“People will see a significant change in bills when it gets extremely cold, and we’ve had extremely cold weather over an extended two-week period of time,” said Bowers. “If you get that utility bill, and you take a look at it, and it’s like ‘Okay, I’m going to need to some help’ or ‘I’m not going to be able to pay this bill in full right now,’ Go ahead and call the customer service lines at the Jackson Energy Authority and start working with people.”

Bowers says it’s important to get ahead of it.

Speaking of the recent winter storm, utility companies have been working overtime to restore power. Across the state, over 300,000 residents lost power last week.

“At the peak of the storm, on the 25th when it hit, we had peak outages of 5,000. Well, 5,100 customers, or 45% of our customer base, was out of power,” said Tony Kirk, president and CEO of Bolivar Energy Authority.

Now, almost all consumers are back online. Bolivar energy authority announced they will be suspending all meter disconnections until next week.

“You know, I felt the customers had been under enough stress without power, that us coming back trying to disconnect servers, that kind of would be too stressful,” said Kirk.