The use of electricity for house heating in the Tennessee Valley

TODAY several hundred thousand homes throughout the country are being heated satisfactorily with electricity and the number is growing quite rapidly. Five years ago the majority of electrically heated homes were concentrated in only a few areas, but now the use of electric heating is spreading into many places where there was none as recent as 2 years ago. A number of factors are responsible for this widening use. Among the more influential of these is the increasing cost of fuels and the tremendous growth of summer air-conditioning loads on electric distribution systems. Many electric utilities are actively promoting heating to offset the summer peaks created by air conditioning.