Tag: Memphis Light Gas & Water

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New TVA Rate Hike Will Raise Bills Here in October

(Credit: TVA)

Environmental groups blasted a rate increase for electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority, (TVA) Thursday. 

The TVA board approved a 5.25 percent rate hike during its meeting Thursday in Florence, Alabama. The move is expected to raise nearly $500 million for TVA. The agency said the average residential bill in its coverage area last year was about $138. The new increase will translate to about an additional $4.35 each month.

“We recognize that people don’t pay rates, they pay bills, and that matters,” said Jeff Lyash, president and chief executive officer of TVA. “We know this is a kitchen table issue for many families across our region. At TVA, we don’t like price increases any more than you do, and that’s why we continually work to reduce expenses by hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

“We have done everything possible to absorb costs as we invest in the reliability of our existing plants, construct new generation to keep up with growth and maximize solar to produce more carbon-free energy,” Lyash added. 

The increase came almost exactly one year after the TVA board approved a 4.5 percent rate increase. That increase was expected to add $3.50 to customers’ monthly bills and was needed to improve efficiency and add 30 percent of new power load to the grid, TVA said at the time. 

However, the total 9.75 percent rate increase figure was by design, environmental groups said Thursday. If the agency raised rates by 10 percent in a five-year span, that would have triggered re-negotiations with local power suppliers, like Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW). 

Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) officials said they were frustrated by the lack of public information and input on the rate increase. 

”Only in an Orwellian world of misinformation do we see our nation’s largest ’public’ power utility pass a massive rate increase while providing the public the least amount of information compared to ‘private’ utilities,” said SACE executive director Stephen Smith. “It’s highly unusual for a utility the size of TVA to issue a rate increase with zero independent review. This is a broken process, and every ratepayer in the Tennessee Valley is literally paying the price.” 

SACE said it could “only guess” at what is driving “TVA’s current financial woes.” And it had a guess: “the largest buildout of fossil gas in the country in a decade,” pointing to new projects for fossil gas pipelines and power plants. 

This also drew the ire of Gaby Sarri-Tobar, energy justice campaigner at the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity.

 “It’s outrageous that TVA is raising rates again to pay for more dirty fossil-fuel plants and pipelines,” Sarri-Tobar said in a statement. “The country’s largest public utility is planning to build more methane gas capacity this decade than any other utility, defying its duty to be a clean-energy role model.

“By approving this rate hike, the TVA board is responsible for making life-saving power more unaffordable for millions of people, as our climate spins out of control.”

A 4 percent electric rate increase from MLGW began in January. It was the first of three annual increases to “fund continuing infrastructure improvements which will enhance the reliability and resiliency of the local electric grid.” Customers can expect their bills to — at least — increase each year for 2025 and 2026. It was not immediately clear how TVA’s new rate hike would impact MLGW’s scheduled increases.

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Environmental Groups Say xAI Deal Sidestepped MLGW Board, Memphis City Council

Elon Musk. Photo by Trevor Cokley / Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Memphis environmental groups urged officials to deny an electricity deal for xAI, demanded a public review of the project, and said Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) ratepayers could subsidize some large portions of the infrastructure deal.  

Details on the deal that brought the Elon-Musk-founded company to locate its artificial intelligence hub — called the Gigafactory of Compute — to Memphis remain few, even almost two months after its announcement.

A Tuesday letter from the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) outlined those knowledge gaps, showed confusion and ignorance on the deal by local leaders, said the facility would cause environmental harm to those in South Memphis, and that MLGW CEO Doug McGowen may have overstepped the boundaries of his position in approving the deal.

2024-07-29-Memphis-Coalition-Comments-to-TVA-re-Request-to-Serve-xAIDownload

The letter was written and sent by the SELC on behalf of the Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP), Young, Gifted & Green, Sierra Club Tennessee Chapter, and the Sierra Club Chickasaw Group. SELC said, “many of these members will be directly affected by xAI’s operation and its harmful local consequences.” 

The letter was sent to the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). SELC said MLGW is requesting TVA to provide xAI 150 megawatts of power. In the letter, SELC argues TVA’s Memphis system is not reliable enough to handle that much new consumption. Also, it said, a deal for the much energy needs more local approvals.

The 150 megawatt demand is enough to power 100,000 homes.

Southern Environmental Law Center

“The xAI facility is demanding a jaw-dropping 150 MW of firm power by the end of 2024,” reads the letter. “To put that demand in perspective, 150 MW is enough electricity to power 100,000 homes. The xAI facility would become MLGW’s largest electricity customer, siphoning five percent of MLGW’s total daily load to power its operations.” 

On reliability, the group said that TVA admitted in October that it did not have enough generating and transmission power in the area even before xAI cam knocking. Back then, TVA proposed a new natural-gas-powered generation project here. The project was necessary to  “improve the stability of its transmission system in the western portion of Tennessee. In this area, additional resources are needed to ensure that adequate transmission voltages are maintained within the desired limits,” SELC said, citing TVA’s report.

“Overcommitting to industrial load, as MLGW and xAI have requested, could have serious and even life-threatening consequences for residential customers in Memphis.

Southern Environmental Law Center

“In other words, TVA had already identified a reliability concern in the Memphis-area grid, even before factoring in xAI’s load,” SELC said. “Overcommitting to industrial load, as MLGW and xAI have requested, could have serious and even life-threatening consequences for residential customers in Memphis, contrary to the purpose of the TVA Act and the board policy. When TVA cannot meet peak demand, families go without power during increasingly severe hot and cold weather.”

Further, TVA’s gas-powered plants here are cooled with water from the Memphis Sand Aquifer. Higher strains on those plants — like during winter-weather events here in 2022 and 2021 — caused a serious draw on the aquifer and threaten well fields ”that provide drinking water for predominantly Black, low-income South Memphis communities.”

For these reasons and more, the group urged TVA board members to study the impacts of xAI’s supercomputer before agreeing to serve the facility. That study should include impacts to air pollution, climate change, water quality, water quantity and access, environmental justice, and transportation, SELC said. 

“It cannot reasonably be disputed that xAI will require TVA to generate additional electricity and add capacity to the system,” the letter said. “TVA must disclose how it proposes to provide power to xAI, analyze alternatives, and study of the same categories of impacts identified in [the proposal for the new gas plant here] before committing to provide power to xAI.” 

SELC also argues that the request to serve xAI is premature “because MLGW has not obtained approval from the MLGW Board or [the Memphis City Council] to spend millions of dollars of ratepayer money to subsidize xAI.” MLGW leaders told council members earlier this month that it would pay for $760,000 worth of substation upgrades for the project. Also, the utility will provide xAI a “marginal allowance” to recoup some of the $24 million it will spent o build a new, $24 million substation, meaning a big break on the company’s power bill.

”Thus, according to MLGW’s presentation [to the council], it seems that over the next few years, ordinary MLGW ratepayers will be subsidizing millions of dollars in infrastructure investments required to serve xAI, both directly and through bill credits to xAI,” the letter said. 

Despite this “apparent massive commitment of ratepayer funds to subsidize xAI’s infrastructure needs,” neither the council nor the MLGW board was aware of the xAI project until it was announced on June 5,” SELC said.

Further, the group said MLGW board members weren’t even aware of MLGW’s request to serve xAI with more power from the TVA as late as two weeks ago. For proof, SELC cited an MLGW board meeting on July 17 in which MLGW board member Mitch Graves said, “On the xAI stuff…I wasn’t aware…that TVA’s got to approve something… hadn’t heard that anywhere…what is that they need to approve?”   

“On the xAI stuff…I wasn’t aware…that TVA’s got to approve something… hadn’t heard that anywhere…what is that they need to approve?”   

SELC citing MLGW board member Mitch Graves

SELC said McGowen negotiated this deal with xAI without oversight from his board or the city council. Doing so, the group said, is a violation of the charters of the council and the board. 

”Proper review by the MLGW board and city council is essential because MLGW faces significant operational constraints that directly affect the Memphis coalition’s members’ access to electricity,” the letter said. ”MLGW must give the MLGW board and city council their charter-given right to evaluate whether it is in the best interest of MLGW ratepayers to subsidize millions of dollars of infrastructure investment in xAI over the next two years, while at the same time struggling to keep the lights on and provide accurate billing statements to residential customers. 

”The TVA board should not consider the pending request until MLGW obtains required local approvals.”

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MLGW Lifts Water Conservation Order, Boil Water Advisory Remains

Credit: MLGW

Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) lifted its water conservation order Monday morning as “water service and pressures return to normal,” meaning customers are no longer required to limit water consumption.

However, the utility said all MLGW customers should continue to boil potable water before use.

That boil requirement will be lifted once MLGW has completed water safety tests. The utility said its laboratory started testing the water supply Monday for quality and clarity. Samples must incubate for 18 to 24 hours before results are available. 

When the test results are ready, MLGW will send them to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to confirm that the water quality meets standards. Then, with TDEC’s approval, MLGW can lift the advisory.

Over the past week, MLGW said it has located and repaired 56 broken water mains, responded to more than 4,000 residential and commercial customers who reported broken pipes, and shut off nearly 100 fire suppression systems.

As pressure is restored, some MLGW customers may experience discolored water. MLGW said those customers should let their water run until it is clear.

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All MLGW Customers Under Boil Water Advisory

Credit: MLGW

All Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) customers should boil their water before consumption, the utility said Friday afternoon.

The move comes after MLGW issued boil water advisories for parts of its service areas Thursday, affecting about 15 percent of total customers. The situation worsened since then, MLGW said.

“Due to days of freezing weather [MLGW] has experienced multiple line breaks which has resulted in a significant loss of pressure to the drinking water system in Memphis and Shelby County,” it said in a statement Friday. “As a precautionary measure, we are asking MLGW water customers to boil water before consumption. We are also asking customers to curtail water usage and to repair any ruptured lines in their homes or businesses.”

For this, customers should boil tap water for at least one minute before consuming it. MLGW asked that customers use boiled or bottled water for drinking and cooking. Safe water should also be used for making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and preparing food until further notice. Tap water is safe for bathing and showering, MLGW said, but try to avoid getting it in your mouth.

The boil water announcement came just after MLGW announced that some customers do not have running water at all as the effects of winter storms continue to ripple through the Mid-South.

MLGW said Friday afternoon that water pressure continues to be a concern for many customers. Some have no water at all and the utility listed these are some possible reasons why:

• Pressures have dropped too low because of leaks between the customer’s home and MLGW’s pumping station.

• MLGW secured a leaking water line to repair it.

• The customer’s home has a line that is frozen and water is not flowing.

“MLGW crews are working around the clock to find and fix leaks in the system and restore normal water pressure to all customers affected,” the utility said in a statement.

Before the storm hit, MLGW suggested customers stock up on bottled drinking water to drink, brush teeth, cook with, and more. It also said to fill a container or bathtub with water for cleaning and flushing toilets.

”Now is the time to make use of that water,” MLGW said.

Those without water can pick up two free cases of bottled water (per vehicle) Friday from 2-4 p.m. at:

Shelby County Fire Station 62
4647 Forest Hill Irene
Memphis, TN 38125

Shelby County Fire Station 67
944 Northaven Drive
Memphis, TN 38127

The water giveaway is a partnership between MLGW, the Shelby County Emergency Management & Homeland Security Agency, and the City of Memphis Office of Emergency Management.

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MLGW Issues Boil Water Advisory for Parts of Shelby County

Credit: MLGW

Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) issued a precautionary boil water advisory for the southeast and northwest parts of its service area Thursday. 

There were no reports of any water quality issues. But water pressures dropped low enough to trigger the advisory. 

MLGW said customers should use bottled or boiled water for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice. 

“Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water,” reads the statement. “Bring water to a rapid boil, let it boil for one minute, and then let it cool before using. Please use water from cold tap to boil.”

“People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advice from their health care providers about drinking water.”

“For customers with known or suspected lead water service lines, please allow water to run for 30 seconds before collecting water to boil or use a certified filter.”

For more information, contact MLGW at 320-3950. 

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MLGW Directs Customers to Conserve Water

Photo by Bluewater Sweden on Unsplash

Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) directed its customers to avoid non-essential water use Thursday morning.

The utility said it has repaired 27 broken water mains since Saturday and is now working to fix two more. While water systems across the MLGW network are operating at full capacity,  leaks downstream are affecting system pressures, it said.

MLGW is asking residential customers to turn off the water when washing dishes, brushing teeth, or shaving. It is also suggesting them to take shorter showers and delay running dishwashers and washing machines. 

Customers can stop dripping household faucets to prevent pipes from freezing when temperatures are expected to rise above freezing Thursday between 1 p.m.-5 p.m. MLGW suggested returning the drips when temperatures return to below 32 degrees. 

Commercial and industrial customers should limit water usage to 75 percent of their typical usage. 

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MLGW Customers Asked to Voluntarily Reduce Electricity Usage

Credit: TVA via X

Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) has now formally asked customers to voluntarily reduce their electricity usage during the ongoing winter weather event. 

The utility began suggesting the reductions almost from the beginning of the event, which brought subfreezing temperatures and several inches of snow across the MLGW service area on Sunday. MLGW and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) issued an “energy conservation alert” that began at 1 p.m. Tuesday. 

It’s hoped that the voluntary reductions will help prevent brownouts and blackouts and help the utility “avoid more dramatic actions.”

TVA said its “generating plants and transmission system are performing well.” But it seems to be preparing customers for what’s to come. “As the snow and bitterly cold temperatures move through the Valley, we could set an all-time record for power demand Wednesday morning,” TVA said on X Monday. 

Here are MLGW’s tips for fast energy reduction that will make the biggest immediate impact:

• If you are drying clothes, turn the machine off and let the items continue air drying. The clothes dryer is a huge energy hog.

• Set your thermostat to 68 degrees or lower to avoid unnecessary operation of the blower on your furnace or electric heat pump.

• Unplug electric vehicles.

• Turn off all electric space heaters.

• Turn off all interior lights during the day and keep on only enough light at night to feel safe. Don’t forget indoor and outdoor holiday lights, as well as your outside porch light.

• Do not run the clothes washing machine or the dishwasher, and if possible do not use the electric range or electric oven for cooking during the conservation alert.

• Do not use blow dryers, toasters, or other high consumption appliances that use electric resistance as their heat source.

• Keep the refrigerator and freezer on, but keep the doors closed. Every time the door is opened the inside warms up a bit and energy is needed to bring the temperature back down.

• Turn off and unplug everything that isn’t in use and turn off electric power strips.

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Icy Blast Could Bring Power Outages, Hazardous Travel, and Tree Damage

National Weather Service Memphis/Twitter

Memphis is bracing for another possible ice storm.

Winter weather warnings were initially only for areas north and south of Memphis. 

But an Ice Storm Warning was later updated to include the entire MidSouth.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Memphis then predicted possibly two rounds of ice. The first round would come through Monday evening and into Tuesday morning. The next round would come Tuesday evening.  

NWS Memphis Lead forecaster Michael Hill explained it all here:

NWS Memphis warned the storm could cause “power outages, travel difficulties, and tree damage.”

Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) said Monday afternoon that it was preparing for severe weather. 

“Impacts to the MLGW service area may include power outages, tree damage, and travel difficulties,” MLGW said in a statement. “MLGW crews and additional contract crews are ready to respond to any local damage or outages.”

For all of this, the Facebook page The Damn Weather of Memphis issued a Liquor Store Warning to be in effect until Wednesday morning. It also said the storm is a “solid 6.3 on The Holy Shit Damn Scale.”

(Credit: The Damn Weather of Memphis/Facebook)

“Don’t be a dumbass,” the page said. “The roads will simply look wet, then you come up on an overpass and see an Infiniti on its roof.”

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MLGW Stays With TVA but Rejects “Never-Ending” Contract

(Credit: TVA)

Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) rejected Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) 20-year rolling contract Wednesday morning but will continue to be a TVA customer “for the foreseeable future.” 

MLGW began evaluating its nearly 80-year relationship with TVA in 2018. The local utility company is TVA’s largest customer. Others (including Siemens) claimed MLGW could save between $130 million-$450 million each year if it left TVA.  

MLGW is not leaving TVA, however. It will remain with TVA “for the foreseeable future,” according to an MLGW statement issued after the board’s decision Wednesday morning. But it can more freely keep its options to other power suppliers open after voting down the contract.

The board members ultimately rejected TVA’s now-standard, 20-year rolling contract, which most of its other local power companies have signed, based mostly on the length of the term. Board chairman Mitch Graves said, simply, the 20-year deal was “too long of an agreement.”

TVA accentuated the positives of the move Wednesday, highlighting the fact that MLGW will remain with them for now. TVA said the decision “is a reinforcement of the longstanding relationship with TVA in delivering affordable, reliable, and clean energy to the people and communities across Memphis and Shelby County.”

“We are proud of our partnership with MLGW, and we are excited to move forward,” TVA Chief External Relations Officer Jeannette Mills said in a statement. “We believe the people of Memphis and Shelby County deserve a partner that cares about serving their needs and addressing real issues like energy burden and revitalization of the city’s core communities. Our continued partnership with MLGW provides the best option for making this happen.”

Other groups, like the Southern Environmental Law Center, saw the decision a little differently.

“Big news out of Memphis as the city’s utility rejects a restrictive, never-ending power supply contract with TVA, looking for more renewable energy sources and lower bills for residents,” the group tweeted after the meeting. 

Protect Our Aquifer tweeted this on Tuesday ahead of the board meeting: 

The group said it was at the hearing Wednesday to speak against the contract. 

Memphis Community Against the Pipeline (MCAP) called the move “another win for the people.”

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MLGW President & CEO Resigns

J.T. Young (Credit: MLGW)

Memphis Light, Gas & Water finds itself looking for a new leader. In a press release Friday, the public utility announced that president J.T. Young would be resigning his post, effective October 14th.

Young is leaving his current position to return to his hometown of Pensacola, Florida, where he will take up a position at Florida Power & Light.

“J.T. has led MLGW with integrity, humility, and strength, with examples being the process which culminated recently in a plan to strengthen the system to reduce major outages from severe storms and the RFP process for our power supply,” said Mayor Jim Strickland. “For all these reasons and many more, I’d like to thank J.T. for his service as the President of MLGW and to the citizens of Memphis. I know he and his family will do well back home in Pensacola.”

Young joined MLGW in March 2018, and served as MLGW’s 11th president. He has helmed the utility through several crises over the last couple of years, including 2021’s water boil advisory, infrastructure problems, and severe outages caused by ice storms.

Throughout his tenure, the organization has also weighed the option of splitting with long-time electricity provider Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Recently, Young recommended that MLGW remain with TVA, while environmental groups are asking for more time on its power supply decision.

“J.T. Young has thoughtfully led Memphis Light, Gas and Water through difficult times with a solid understanding of the crucial role MLGW plays in our economic growth,” said Greater Memphis Chamber president & CEO Beverly Robertson. “The Greater Memphis Chamber is grateful for his leadership as a member of our Board of Directors and our Chairman’s Circle and for his willingness to partner with the Chamber on critical issues affecting our businesses.”

As of publication, it is unclear who will lead MLGW following Young’s departure.