By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Evergy is asking customers to conserve electricity as much as possible through Wednesday due to the extreme cold. They've also begun controlled outages as a way to conserve energy.
The region's coldest weather in decades is creating a high demand for electricity. It's also driving high demand for natural gas, straining the gas supply available to generate electricity.
Icy conditions have also made availability of wind power uncertain.
Evergy is also conducting rolling blackouts, starting Monday to conserve energy. These blackouts can last between 30-60 minutes. Already more than 30,000 customers have lost power for a half hour this afternoon, according to a Tweet from Evergy.
Evergy's website is also experiencing technical issues due to a high volume of traffic.
Evergy is encouraging customers to turn their thermostats a little cooler, between 65-68 degrees. They also ask that you avoid using space heaters.
You should also close blinds and shades to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows.