Callis addresses TVA board, discusses energy efficiency

During the regular TVA board of directors meeting on Thursday, August 25, David Callis, executive vice president and general manager for the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association, expressed appreciation to the TVA board for viewing energy efficiency as a generated resource. Callis also thanked TVA staff for their support of an energy efficiency program being developed by Tennessee’s electric cooperatives that will help low-income homeowners make needed improvements to their homes.

“Most businesses don’t want you to use less of what they are selling,” said Callis. “But that is what we have been trying to do – you at TVA and us as local power companies – and that is where energy efficiency comes into play.”

“Over the past year and a half, Tennessee’s electric cooperatives have been working closely with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation on a program that has the potential to improve the energy efficiency of hundreds, even thousands, of homes across the valley,” said Callis. “The best part of this program is that it targets families that don’t have the financial resources to make those improvements on their own and are unlikely to qualify for (other) loans.”

“TVA staff has been fantastic,” Callis concluded. “It has been a collaborative process from the beginning.”