Knotts addresses TVA board
Murray, KY – Today the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors held a public listening session at the Curris Center at Murray State University. Mike Knotts, CEO of the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association, addressed the board during the listening session, and a readout of his comments is below.
Curris Center at Murray State University | Murray, KY | 2:00 p.m. CST
Good afternoon. My name is Mike Knotts, and I serve as the CEO of the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association. Thank you for allowing this opportunity for stakeholders that your decisions impact to communicate directly with you. It is always a pleasure to see each of you and listen to the diversity of thought and opinion that surrounds your work.
Sharing information with customers about TVA’s successes and shortcomings is important, and I believe that good communication starts with the policies considered and implemented by this board.
I appear today on behalf of 25 distribution utilities who rely upon TVA to supply all of their wholesale energy. TECA’s members own and operate over $6B worth of assets. Their power bills make up nearly 25% of TVA’s revenues – almost $3 billion per year. In most cases, that wholesale power bill constitutes between 70-80% of the cooperative’s total revenue.
Cooperatives are private sector, not for profit companies. I believe it is a good reminder that while electric co-ops share in TVA’s mission of the “three E’s” – we differ from municipal utilities, and TVA itself, in that we are not units of government. Co-ops are owned by their consumer-members. Therefore, our policies are set by independent Boards of Directors who are elected by the company’s members – not by City Councils or political figures.
Because of this governance structure, co-op boards understand the importance of transparency and communication.
Since 1958, Tennessee’s electric cooperatives have published The Tennessee Magazine. More than a newsletter from the power company, The Tennessee Magazine honors the extraordinary nature of everyday life across Tennessee. It is a staple of coffee tables from Memphis to Mountain City and greets visitors to the offices of our Members of Congress in Washington, DC.
Let me share two statistics that may surprise you. First, the reach of The Tennessee Magazine surpasses almost any other Tennessee media outlet. If I asked you to compare the Nashville Tennessean to The Tennessee Magazine, which would reach more people? What if I asked you to compare the top 10 newspapers across the state?
Well, the answer may shock you. The top ten newspapers across Tennessee have a combined circulation of 208,000 copies. Next month, The Tennessee Magazine will reach over 800,000 homes and businesses. That’s 2.5 million of your friends and neighbors.
Second, our in-depth market research has provided some extraordinary findings. Even though other types of print media are collapsing, 84% of those 2.5 million people have read three of the last four editions. That’s remarkable. In today’s world of fake news and cynical attitudes toward all types of media, we learned that 97% of readers trust what they read in The Tennessee Magazine. That’s not just remarkable. That is incredible.
Trust. It is not something you buy, and it isn’t created overnight. The Tennessee Magazine is just one way that co-ops work to be transparent and earn the trust of the people we serve. This trust has been built by decades of selfless service by hardworking men and women, and electric cooperatives today are dedicated to always being worthy of that trust.
As we work together to power our communities and energize every moment, electric cooperatives hope that you will join us as we earn the trust of the people who rely on us.
Thank you.
