NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In December, a storm wreaked havoc across the country, causing chaos with travel and power outages around the nation.
Winter Storm Elliot was referred to as a “once-in-a-generation storm,” by the National Weather Service with its record-breaking temperatures and high winds.
In the Tennessee Valley Region, the average temperature was 3 at 8 a.m. CDT on Friday, Dec. 23.
This was the coldest system average temp since February 1996.
On Friday, the Tennessee Valley Authority released a report on the storm which caused rolling blackouts for the first time.
According to the report, the high winds, heavy rain and cold temperatures "increased energy demand beyond what had been forecast, resulting in the highest 24-hour electricity demand supplied in TVA history."
In total, 38 of their 232 units were negatively impacted, mostly due to instruments that froze.
TVA reported that the financial impact totaled around $170 million, including "increased fuel and purchased power costs, costs of repair and hardening of assets, and lost revenue as local power companies and direct serve customers reduced their power usage during the storm."
They estimated that residential customers with "average" energy use would have seen around a $5.20 increase to their bill in February due to the storm.
Following the storm, the TVA said they immediately took steps to learn from what happened, including engaging industry experts and customers for input and feedback, incorporating independent oversight and expertise.
They added that they are addressing and identifying what actions they need to take including site resiliency, energy market purchases as well as focusing on their real-time load forecasting and operations.
