Marshall Municipal Utilities is urging residents to help keep costs low and people warm by conserving energy as much as they can for the next few days.

MMU officials say, “as you may have seen in the news, frigid temperatures are taxing the energy supply and costs are skyrocketing. While we do not expect Marshall to be impacted by rolling blackouts, you may have seen mentioned in the news, we are still asking our customers to help out by conserving energy.”

MMU lists several steps you can take to lower your usage and save on heating bills:
• Wear layers of clothing and use extra blankets.
• Set thermostat settings at 68 degrees or as low as possible while you’re home.
• Customers who are elderly or have medical conditions complicated by the cold should not lower their thermostat.
• Lock doors and windows for a better seal. For drafty windows, close storm windows and consider keeping window shades closed for extra insulation.
• Don’t block heating-system air vents with furniture, curtains or rugs.
• Limit the use of natural-gas fireplaces and electric space heaters.
• Close the fireplace damper when not in use.
• Roll up a towel to put at the bottom of a leaky door to keep drafts at bay.
• Turn off nonessential lights.
• Postpone all nonessential energy use.
• Turn off and unplug computers, monitors, chargers, printers and televisions during non-use.