MLGW Info and Prep for Severe Weather: January 2024

Main Points

• Over the next week we will experience a dynamic and hazardous weather pattern.
• Gusting wind and thunderstorms could cause power outages on Friday.
• Deeply cold temperatures may impact water systems for municipalities, businesses, and residences over the coming week.
• Deeply cold temperatures could strain the bulk electric supply requiring conservation during peak demands.
• We recommend customers prepare in advance by:
  • Ensuring they have food, water, and medicines sufficient for a three-day interruption (1 gallon of drinking water per person per day)
  • Protecting their indoor and outdoor plumbing fixtures from freezing by covering outside fixtures and opening cabinets and dripping water from indoor faucets during period of below freezing temperatures.
  • Know where and how to shut off water to your house or business in the event of a burst pipe.
  • For other tips, see https://www.mlgw.com/residential/safety
• MLGW, along with other key emergency responders, will host a press conference on Friday, January 12th at 3:30pm to update customers on preparations, expected impacts, and changes to the weather forecast.
• MLGW will regularly communicate status of systems and customer recommendations through all TV and radio outlets, social media platforms including X, Facebook, NextDoor, as well as text alerts for customers who are subscribed to https://www.mlgw.com/textalerts . For emergency situations, MLGW will transmit directions and information over City and County emergency alert systems.
• Should conditions require continual updates, MLGW will hold a press briefing daily at 12PM during the week of Monday January 15th.

The NWS is forecasting high winds of 25-35mph gusting to 55mph along with rain and isolated thunderstorms that will impact our region overnight Thursday and through Friday January 12th. This brings with it the risk of power outages due to lightning, downed trees, and tree branches. MLGW has a full complement of troubleshooters, repair crews, and tree crews standing by to respond to any outages and will be acting with additional urgency in advance of forecasted sub-freezing temperatures that begin Saturday around midnight.

Beginning Sunday, the National Weather Service is forecasting a severe cold/freeze event, with sub-freezing temperatures moving into the area early Sunday through Wednesday, with the possibility of single digit wind chills and likely snow accumulation of 2-4 inches Sunday into Monday. This area of cold will cover a substantial part of the eastern and southern US and will impact Memphis/Shelby County and the entire TVA service area.

MLGW and TVA have taken additional actions since last winter to prepare for such a cold event. MLGW has also winterized all its electric substations, ensuring that circuit breaker switches have been treated with antifreeze to avoid sticking and allowing remote operation. TVA has added approximately 1500 MW of new generation to their portfolio and has spent more than $100M on protection and resilience at its generating plants, including heat trace system upgrades and enclosures on generating equipment sensors to prevent loss of generation capacity. Most importantly, TVA, MLGW and 152 other local power companies have exercised new communications protocols so that we can advise customers well in advance of reaching an emergency state so that we can collectively take action to reduce electric consumption, should that become necessary.

There will undoubtedly be impacts to our system despite our preparation. I want to share what we may see because of this wide-area impact, and some of the measures we may ask of our customers. As a reminder, MLGW provides electric and gas service to everyone in Shelby County, but water service only to Memphis, Lakeland, Arlington, and unincorporated Shelby County.

Electric Impact: As temperatures dip, we expect there to be an increase in electric demand for the TVA system as customers in other parts of the system draw more energy for their electric heating systems. Should demand rise to the point that would threaten reserve operating margins in the bulk electric system, TVA and MLGW may issue a “energy conservation alert” for all electric customers. This is a message asking our customers to reduce electric usage as much as possible during a certain timeframe, typically peak usage hours. Conserving energy is completely voluntary, but doing so helps to reduce the likelihood of brownouts and blackouts. When necessary to issue an alert, MLGW will send the message via text and email to our customers and will also make social media posts and notify local media outlets. We will also notify the City and County emergency alert system operators so that they can put out community wide notifications via the emergency notification system. Fast, collective energy reduction will make the most immediate impact, and is the key to avoiding more dramatic actions like brownouts or rolling blackouts.

Gas Impact: We expect to see an increased demand for natural gas across the service area as residential and commercial customers use gas to heat their homes and facilities. MLGW is well prepared to meet forecast demand with a healthy reserve of in-system stored gas and Liquid Natural Gas that can be vaporized to complement purchased gas. With three transmission lines serving Shelby County and a fully operational LNG facility we expect to meet increased demand for natural gas during this period.

Water Impact: Anytime the temperatures drop below freezing for a sustained period with single digit wind chills there is a risk to municipal, commercial, and residential water systems. The MLGW Distribution system is well prepared to meet water supply needs: we have more wells online than in previous years and they have been winterized and insulated. Our pumping stations are all online and in service and we have added more heating to avoid station freeze-ups and variable frequency drives which allow us to ramp up the volume of water we push out to the system. The risk to the system is from pressure loss because of many, many smaller broken pipes, whether residential or commercial or in water distribution mains. Because of this, MLGW has advised owners of vacant property to secure water at the meter in advance of this event, and for owners of buildings that may be unoccupied during Monday’s holiday to ensure they are monitoring interior temperatures and the condition of their fire protection systems to avoid damage from pipes bursting. For any customers who do experience a burst pipe, we ask that they immediately secure water either at the in building shut-or at the curb where their water meter is located. We encourage everyone to act now to locate water shutoffs in their house/building and to know where to secure the supply at the curb. MLGW stands ready to assist customers who cannot secure water. Over the last year, MLGW has installed additional pressure monitoring in and around critical facilities to ensure we can catch any losses in pressure early. MLGW also asks that anyone seeing flowing water or water accumulating in a street to report a suspected water main leak so that we can quickly assess and repair it. MLGW will continue to monitor water quality and pressure throughout the event and should there be any impact advise customers what to do. We always encourage preparation as with any pending severe weather and suggest that residential customers keep a 3-day supply of water on hand at 1 gallon of water per person, per day.

MLGW will be fully staffed throughout this event and ready to respond to what will be a dynamic period of changing weather. MLGW will host a press briefing at 3:30PM on Friday, January 12th to update customers on the latest going into the weekend and will have representatives from local emergency agencies in attendance to address issues related to roads, warming centers and other weather emergency related needs.