How Cold Weather Affects Your Bill

We’ve experienced one of the coldest winters in the Mid-South in 20 years. Unfortunately, that means you will probably see a higher than average utility bill this month. That’s not due to higher rates; it’s due to the extended cold weather days and the increased consumption of energy.

Even if you’ve kept your thermostat setting low, your heating system used more energy to heat your home and/or business.

Key factors related to this winter’s higher bills:

• The coldest January in 20 years.

• Prolonged cold weather days will result in bills being at least 22 percent higher.

• Increased consumption of energy resources to heat our homes and businesses.

• This winter the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has experienced some of its all-time-high daily electric-generating days.

• Many TVA distributors set all-time electric heat usage records except MLGW – MLGW was not close to setting a record, which is good for MLGW customers.

Though our bills seem high after all the cold weather, they are lower than most others in TVA’s service region. MLGW’s utility rates are some of the lowest in the country. Find ways to conserve at www.mlgw.com.

Set your thermostat at 68° to save energy. Each degree over 68° increases your heating cost by 4%.