Power demand still high, supply improves, TVA says

A prolonged heat wave continues to drive demand for electricity in the Southeast, but power supplies are improving, a Tennessee Valley Authority official said Tuesday.

?We are having about the same amount of demand on the system as last week,? TVA spokesman John Moulton said. ?The difference is that we have nearly all of our generating units back on line.?

The Watts Bar nuclear station in Spring City returned to service Monday for the first time since generator problems shut down the plant July 31.

TVA, the nation?s largest public utility, was forced last week to interrupt service to about 70 large industrial customers to prevent brownouts. While that precaution was no longer necessary this week, TVA still was delaying maintenance that could cause temporary outages.

On Monday, TVA delivered the most electricity ever in the month of August ? 31,948 megawatts ? as the temperature across the Tennessee Valley reached 95 degrees at 5 p.m. Eastern.

TVA set an all-time record of 32,037 megawatts on July 18.