Tribe: Expect rolling blackouts due to extreme cold

Rolling blackouts due to extreme cold should be expected in Tribal communities, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has announced.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has activated Step 50 of its Emergency Load Curtailment Plan in response to extreme demands on the power system due to record low temperatures, the Tribe announced Saturday morning.

Philadelphia Utilities is supplied by TVA, but no announcement had been made by mid-morning Saturday.

According to the Tribe, Central Electric Power Association has said it will respond with rolling outages on circuits in 30-minute intervals. Members in lower-impact areas will experience outages first, meaning that essential services such as nursing homes, hospitals, and sensitive industrial operations will not see interruptions until absolutely necessary. 

Tribal communities in the CEPA service area are: Bogue Chitto, Conehatta, Pearl River, Red Water, Standing Pine, and Tucker. 

CEPA will not be able to give advance notification to specific areas impacted in most cases, officials said. “Just know that these outages will be restored within 30-45 minutes if all goes as planned,” they said.

"We realize the inconvenience and frustration that our members will feel during these extreme temperatures. Interrupting service is not what we want to be doing on Christmas Eve, but it is necessary for the reliability of our whole system and that of the seven-state region that TVA serves."

For outage information, go to centralepa.com