With the temperature bottoming out this morning to 0 degrees in some areas around north Mississippi, the Tennessee Valley Authority announced the power demand hit an all-time high this morning.

TVA supplies power to area utility companies such as Oxford Utilities and the North East Mississippi Electric Power Association.

The morning’s preliminary peak power demand reached 34,526 megawatts. The average temperature for TVA’s service area was 4 degrees.

The previous record was 33,482 megawatts in August 2007; however, that was from high heat and air conditioners rather than cold and heaters.

The extreme cold temperatures will continue to drive up the demand for electricity over the next few days.

While a high of 39 is forecast for Thursday, rain and freezing rain are also expected with the low dropping back down to 24 degrees. The high temps will remain below freezing at night until at least Sunday.

TVA said the electric grid is currently stable and generating facilities are performing well; however, they continue to encourage customers to continue to reduce their electric load where possible.