For many residents, utility bills in the Florence area have been abnormally high recently, but the Tennessee Valley Authority, the provider of electricity to the Shoals, has reported that the company is losing money.

TVA lost an estimated $48 million for a three-month period that ended in December. The loss is attributed to a 17 percent increase in operating and management expenses the company has had during the past year.

Richard Morrissey, manager of the Florence Utilities Electricity Department, explained how electricity costs fluctuate with the temperature.

“Electricity costs are tied to degree days,” Morrissey said. A degree day is measured by adding the recorded highest and lowest temperatures of the day together, dividing that number by two and then subtracting that number from 65.

This calculation allows the company to measure how much electricity was needed that day to heat or cool a person’s home. This number is averaged, recorded and reported to TVA, who then must estimate how much electricity is needed for that particular day.

This winter, temperatures in the Shoals area have been much lower than normal, which has caused the area to see a bigger difference in increasing the need for energy.

Morrissey explained that the calculation of degree days is needed because TVA has to have more energy than is used stored up so the area does not experience a blackout. In case there is a spike in energy consumption, TVA will not be drained of energy.

Morrissey said TVA has had to provide more energy, which the company produces and has to buy when necessary, because more energy is required to take air from very cold to warm enough for buildings.

Sophomore business major Tori Whitehead said that her utility bill was higher than usual this past December.

“It was about $170, and it was only $120 in the hottest part of the summer,” Whitehead said. She said that she does everything she can to conserve energy, like unplugging things and not keeping lights on when she isn’t using them, but her bill was still high.

Morrissey suggested several ways to save money on electricity bills, even when the weather is unseasonably cold or warm.

“Always keep your blinds and curtains closed,” Morrissey said. He said that most heat is lost through windows, and keeping them closed helps keep homes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Morrissey said anything that is plugged into a wall and is warm to the touch at the plug should be unplugged when not in use, such as cell phone and computer chargers. He said that turning power strips off, not unplugging them, is a good way to conserve energy.

He said that every home should use compact fluorescent light bulbs. Incandescent bulbs, compared to fluorescent bulbs, use 50 times the electricity to do the same job. He said that switching to LED bulbs, however, is not cost efficient yet.

“They haven’t really gotten the cost of LED bulbs down enough to make sense economically,” Morrissey said.

He said that the bulbs use so much less energy, but their cost is still too high to ever make a difference in the long run.