Colder weather continued through January causing local utilities and their employees to work harder to keep customers warm.

To better serve customers in Newport the utility is doing some renovation of the offices and awarded a major bid in late February.

Charles McSpadden of Dandridge was the low bidder at $189,480 for the renovation. The other bid was $244,000. Architect Dollar & Ewers recommended the McSpadden bid.

Jefferson-Cocke County Utility District (JCCUD) records show the month was 10 percent colder than Jan. 2009 and colder than normal with 977-degree days. Normal for the month is 899-degree days.

There have been only three other Januarys since 1984 that have been colder, said Tommy Bible, general manager, during his monthly report to commissioners.

Natural gas volumes increased as local industries produced more with gas sales of 349,877 thousand cubic feet (mcf), and colder weather continues. JCCUD ended Jan. with 12,437 customers, but only showing an increase in propane users.

With the ability to draw gas from storage at Early Grove in Western Virginia, JCCUD and other utilities have benefited. However, Bible said he is concerned about what might happen when TVA starts its gas-fired electric generation plant near Rogersville. Much of the natural gas is expected to come from the Virginia gas fields.

Propane sales, both delivered and offered at the Newport walk-in station, continued to be the stars for the utility. The cold weather has placed a lot of stress on utility workers, with many days customers lined up to the road waiting to buy propane.

The walk-in station sales were 23,716 gallons during Jan. setting another record. The second best natural gas sales single day also occurred  on Jan. 8, of 15,451 decatherms.

With 5,071 propane customers, drivers had to be on the roads every day and delivered 427,429 gallons that month. Gas appliance sales reached 361 for the year since April 2009.

Even with all the cold weather and steep demand, prices actually have been declining, most unusual for winter time. Bible said huge USA supplies are keeping the cap on prices. The local rate was $1.14 per therm.

Construction is generally slower during winter but one significant project had to be done and was completed with little fanfare or problems in February. A section of the main 6-inch transmission line had to be bypassed for repair at White Pine. This is the only line serving all Newport customers.

Bible reminded commissioners the utility had decided a couple of years ago to put on hold its plan to create a second transmission line from Jefferson County to Newport. Portions of the project have been completed but the remainder of the work would cost about $4 million.

In other business, commissioners approved an increase in a bid by Boyd Services for additional costs in building a propane tank setup on a new Ford F-550. The original bid was $69,970 to which $2,000 will be added. Even with the increase, the bid remained the lowest.