Fayetteville Public Utilities (FPU) has received high marks after an exhaustive audit performed by Tennessee Valley Authority’s Distributor Compliance Group.
During a presentation to FPU’s board of directors, Walter Haynes, representing TVA, told board members that FPU’s compliance audit was “one of the cleanest” he has seen since TVA began performing compliance assessments of each of TVA’s local power companies.
“The compliance audit that TVA does is an audit that looks at the operations of Fayetteville Public Utilities to determine if you are in compliance with the wholesale power contract that you have with the Tennessee Valley Authority,” he explained. “The compliance audit looks at 14 different areas that are required by the wholesale power contract we have with FPU.”
According to Haynes, each of TVA’s 155 power companies will be assessed on a recurring four-year cycle, with testing focused on contract areas of billing, discriminatory practices and uses of revenue. And, while FPU was scheduled to have its compliance audit performed next year, CEO and General Manager Britt Dye requested TVA perform the audit this summer.
“Because of some not-so-favorable publicity that another utility had from a comptroller’s audit from the state of Tennessee, Britt (Dye) asked us to come on in and do the compliance audit,” Haynes explained, referring to the scathing audit handed down on Lincoln County Board of Public Utilities last year.
Of the 14 areas of focus on TVA’s compliance report, FPU was in full compliance in eight of those areas, Haynes said.
“FPU had a terrific compliance audit,” Haynes told the board. “Fayetteville Public Utilities exhibits a culture which promotes compliance with the TVA contract.
“Fayetteville Public Utilities is very, very fortunate to have the experience and knowledgeable staff that’s here. It’s something you should be very proud of,” he said. “I can tell you in working with a total of eight distributors, that’s not always the case with all utilities.
“…this is the sixth compliance audit I’ve seen, and this is the cleanest compliance report of those six.”
The compliance audit revealed six reportable results, all of which are minor issues, Haynes said. The issues identified – none of which had a financial impact – have been corrected or have a plan in place to be corrected and include such actions as adopting written documents to specify TVA-approved rate codes, installing a demand meter for one customer required to have such a meter and refunding 51-cents to a customer for an incorrect adjustment.
“When we get down to the meat of what has to be corrected,” he said, “it’s almost nothing in all areas. None of these are bad.”
Following Haynes’ presentation, Dye expressed his appreciation to the FPU staff for their work and said he is pleased with the results.
“We were scheduled to have a compliance audit from TVA in 2014 but requested that audit in 2013,” Dye said after the meeting. “This was a detailed audit that checked compliance with our TVA contract, and the results were very good. We are working to provide the proper documentation in the few issues noted in the audit, and there was no financial impact associated with those issues.”
Janine Wilson, chairman of FPU’s board of directors, praised Dye and the FPU employees after the board was informed of the audit results.
“It was no surprise to me or the other board members that FPU had extremely high marks on the recent compliance report,” Wilson said after the meeting. “Mr. Dye and the employees at FPU go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that things are done correctly and report to the board each month on compliance issues.
“We are all proud of the job that they do, and this community should be proud of such a well-run organization,” she added. “Congratulations to the entire staff at FPU.”
The Power of Potential
By David Callis, Executive Vice President and General Manager
When you ask boxing historians to rank the hardest punchers of all time, Rocky Marciano is usually near the top. One reason: the power in his right hand. A contemporary said getting hit by Marciano was like being hit by a truck.
In his 1952 title fight with Jersey Joe Walcott, Marciano was knocked down in the first round and was behind in the scoring after several rounds. Yet in the 13th round, he knocked out the titleholder with “a right cross that traveled only 6 inches.”
Until the 13th round, Marciano had yet to take full advantage of the power from that right hand. The unleashed power was there, yet it was just potentially dangerous.
We all know a person (or two) whom we describe as “having a lot of potential.” It’s not a comment you want to hear about yourself, especially from a teacher or supervisor. It’s a backhanded way of letting you know that you are wasting the potential you possess.
Tennessee’s electric cooperatives possess a lot of power. We use that power in a variety of arenas: economically, politically, charitably and, of course, the electricity that powers our communities. We could just string up the wires and provide power, but we would be wasting a tremendous potential to do better things.
Your expectations of us —and our expectations of ourselves — go far beyond. Turning the lights on was one accomplishment. Yet today, businesses depend on that power to be on all the time — blinks and momentary outages mean costly shutdowns to many.
The nation’s economy has yet to gain a sure footing. We are more fortunate than many states, but the impact of a slow economy and high unemployment hits rural areas hard. Our cooperatives work closely with the Tennessee Valley Authority and state and federal governments to invest in rural economic development. By providing manpower and resources, we’re able to recruit new industry into our communities and help maintain and grow existing businesses.
New environmental regulations could dramatically increase the cost of electricity. It’s important to us all; higher costs impact the struggling economy and your day-to-day lifestyle. We try to ensure that environmental goals don’t sacrifice affordability for the sake of politics. We can do both, keeping rates reasonable and achieving cleaner standards. We use our political power not to gain an unfair advantage but to ensure that rural areas aren’t shuffled to the end of the line as energy policy is developed.
As you travel about during the holidays, you’re likely to see a lot of lights strung around town squares. It’s just as likely that a co-op truck and lineman put them there. From lighting baseball fields to changing street lights to being part of the local Rotary, our co-ops are good corporate citizens, giving generously to charitable organizations in their communities. Outside of corporate giving, cooperative employees donate their personal time and money to the community.
It’s important to note this spirit of cooperation really begins with you. The co-op starts with the membership. Our concern for community is nothing more than an extension of the members’ concern for one another that started this whole operation. It’s grown from one light to cover a nation.
That’s a lot of potential.
Rocky Marciano not only had tremendous power in his punch, he had an endurance that kept him in the ring, punishing his opponents. His tenacity propelled him to achieve an unparalleled 43 knockouts during his 49-0 career.
We’d like to think that we have that same staying power. With your help — your cooperation — we can harness that power to continue meeting the needs of our communities.
Let’s not waste the power of that potential.
Conover recognized for conservation efforts
Friends of Radnor Lake, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the natural integrity of Radnor Lake State Natural Area, recently announced that TECA’s Robin Conover was the recipient of the organization’s Environmental Award.
The Environmental Award is given annually to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and made notable, voluntary contributions in conserving Radnor Lake’s precious resources. Conover has been actively involved with Friends of Radnor Lake for almost 20 years, including serving as a board member since 2002. Conover has contributed her talents to co-write and edit the Friends of Radnor Lake newsletter. She has also produced the Friends of Radnor Lake annual wall calendar featuring her photographs of Radnor Lake since 2006, donating one-hundred-percent of the proceeds to the protection of Radnor Lake.
Conover serves Tennessee’s co-ops as Vice President of Communications of TECA and Editor of The Tennessee Magazine. You can learn more about Friends of Radnor Lake at radnorlake.org.
TECA Telecom brings broadband to neglected rural Tennessee
TECA Telecom is helping to bring broadband Internet to Tennessee thanks to a partnership with the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative. This partnership allows TECA member systems to make satellite internet available to their members in underserved areas where traditional high-speed services are currently not being delivered.
Exede broadband service brings together the highest capacity satellite in the world, state-of-the-art ground equipment and breakthrough web acceleration technology. Exede Internet service is owned and operated by ViaSat, an American company with a long history in satellite innovation for the government, business and residential military customers here in the U.S. and around the world. All Exede plans provide up to 12 Mbps of speed and begin at $49.99 per month.
Contact Todd Blocker for more information on Exede Internet.
What member ownership means
by David Callis
Executive Vice President and General Manager
The more you use a phrase, the more apt you are to experience weariness or fatigue with it. We experienced this in October, repeatedly hearing the terms “default,” “defund” and “shutdown.” In everyday life, any one of those words will usually make you snap to attention. Yet when the use becomes repetitious, we tend to miss what it truly means.
For those of us involved in the electric cooperative business, it’s good to periodically take stock of how important the term “member-owner” truly is. To us on the supply side of the equation, the member-owners (that’s you) are the people for whom we work. We try to not lose sight of that.
Our central focus is to manage our systems for the good of the community. Safe, efficient and cost-effective operation of the system are rightly expected of us by the member-owners. That encompasses every aspect of the co-op, from the engineering design to line construction to accounting and customer service.
When our job requires handling legislative and regulatory affairs, we don’t focus on maximizing profits. Cooperatives are nonprofit companies that recover the money needed to operate the business and build for the future — no more, no less. In analyzing the impact of regulations, we focus on the impact to you. Our concern is your bottom line — your wallet and your well-being.
We’re currently facing a number of challenges — more than just keeping the lights on. The use of sensitive electronic devices has increased, so it’s critical to have a clean, uninterrupted supply of electricity. More than ever, technologies allow all of us to monitor and manage our use remotely. That helps improve service and lower costs for everyone, but technology comes at a price, as does adding renewable energy sources and making the emissions from older power plants cleaner.
So, what about the other side of the equation? There are responsibilities required of you as a member-owner.
Mostly, you need to stay informed.
We use every avenue possible to do that: The Tennessee Magazine, newsletters, newspapers, radio, television, your co-op’s website and social media outlets, emails and text messages. Many co-ops have customer meetings, and every co-op has an annual membership meeting.
Financial reports and legislative updates aren’t much of a drawing card, so we try to entice you to attend annual meetings, where members are more than happy to get free stuff — food, entertainment, door prizes and other giveaways.
We also want you to take away something else that’s free: information. You need to stay informed about the cooperative’s financial condition and how it is meeting the needs of the community. Our boards are composed of member-owners, so it’s a pretty good idea for you to keep tabs on how your fellow members are managing the co-op.
A lot of members take an active interest in the ownership of their cooperative. I’ve seen that firsthand this year. At a mid-sized co-op, a board election resulted in a five-vote margin of victory for the challenger. Nearly 1,500 members were motivated enough to actively participate. Three years earlier, that same challenger lost by the same five-vote margin.
Stay informed and be an active member-owner. Above all, don’t be an uninformed member or voter; we’ve seen the path that takes us down. Remember October’s shutdown?
Rules of the game
by Mike KnottsDirector of Government Relations
Sport is a great metaphor for life and does a fantastic job of relating important lessons. Not only does participating in your favorite game provide needed physical exercise for your body, sport also feeds our minds and satisfies the natural human need for competition. During the game, our brain, without even realizing it, works hard to analyze and react to multiple situations that are occurring at a rapid pace. We make decisions in the blink of an eye. We don’t agonize over the potential negative consequences of a mistake. We just play.
This is especially true of team sports. The added interaction with teammates and opposing players alike only magnifies the positive attributes of sport. Understanding that your actions affect others and can make their experience either better or worse can teach us a lot about considering others in the way we live. It takes nine players to field a baseball team. Counting both teams, 22 square off on the football field. Each player has a role to fulfill, and subtracting just one from the total can result in an embarrassing result or even a complete forfeit.
But we don’t usually participate in sport because of its mental stimulation or because “it’s good for us.” We do it because it is fun and we want to win. Tennessee has for two straight years been represented in the Little League World Series, the best-known and most widely viewed youth athletic event. Do you think those 12-year-olds are worried about how the game is maturing their minds and molding their personalities? Of course not!
And whether on the golf course or at church-league basketball, there are rules we have to follow. Albert Einstein aptly simplified this: “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
But what if those rules change? For instance, this past year the National Football League moved up the spot where the kicker places the ball to kick off to the opposing team (effectively eliminating the kickoff return as a part of the game — regrettably, in my opinion). How does that change affect the way we play the game? Continuing my example of the NFL kickoff, the rule change was made well in advance of the season, and teams altered their strategies and tactics to compensate. But what if the change were made in the middle of the game? That would be unfair, and the teams would certainly protest. How can you expect to be successful if the rules change as you play?
And what if the rule change was so unreasonable it made the game unplayable? Suppose a study concluded that a 20-inch-wide basketball would reduce the risk of injury in the game, so your church league decided that all basketballs would now be that size. Since the larger ball seems to be a safer alternative, how could anyone oppose such a sensible change? The obvious answer to my question is that a 20-inch ball couldn’t possibly work in the game of basketball because the hoop is only 18 inches in diameter.
You might be thinking that these examples are a little far-fetched. But in today’s political and regulatory environment, changing the rules midstream happens all the time. While Congress may be struggling to legislate these days, the rulemaking apparatus of the federal government continues to churn out regulations that carry the force of law but lack the accountability that an elected official faces through the election process. These rules are often contradictory and change the way our industry produces its product and conducts its business. More frequently than ever, these rule changes are being implemented to accomplish what appears to be a well-meaning purpose, but the new requirements may be so onerous that the easiest decision may be to simply quit the game. Or, in one case that affects your cooperative, the mandate is to utilize a technology that doesn’t even exist.
While some of these new “rules of the game” may sound good inside the marble meeting rooms of Washington, D.C., they often conflict with the harsh reality of the real world. And when you consider the billions of dollars, millions of man-hours and thousands of pieces of equipment that are required to power the lifestyle that separates our society from the 19th century, the electric power industry does not have the luxury of guessing what “might” work. Our job is to deliver a 21st-century lifestyle and do it 99.999 percent of the time.
That is why we take so much time and effort to monitor and influence the decisions made by our state and federal governments that affect your co-op. Simply put, our product is too important to society to quit the game. So we will fight to be sure the rules are fair.
Protect Electronics, Prevent Hazards
Big-ticket electronics, such as televisions, computers, and gaming consoles, are at the top of many holiday wish lists—but safety may not be. Purchasing, installing, and operating these items safely protects not only the expensive equipment, but also your entire home. The Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) offers the following tips, and for more information, visit holidaysafety.org.
Safety tips
Extension cords
Surge protector or power strip?
Although surge protectors and power strips both allow you to plug several devices in one location, it is important for consumers to understand that they are not interchangeable. A true surge protector includes internal components that divert or suppress the extra current from surges, protecting your valuable electronics from electrical spikes, while a power strip simply provides more outlets for a circuit.
Source: Electrical Safety Foundation International
Cooking Efficiently
Control energy costs while preparing holiday feasts
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that cooking alone accounts for 4 percent of total home energy use, and this figure doesn’t include the energy costs associated with refrigeration, hot water heating, and dishwashing.
As holiday parties and potlucks gear up, keep these tips in mind to control energy costs:
Source: U.S. Department of Energy
Spotting Energy Myths and Scams
A quick Internet search reveals many ways to save energy around your home—and a lot of them are too good to be true. Scams generally center around misstatements of science or confusion over utility programs. That’s why it’s always a good idea to call your electric co-op to verify or ask questions about any energy-saving program you see advertised.
The most popular scam right now involves a device that promises to save energy without requiring you to make any changes in behavior, turn anything off, or adjust the thermostat. People who sell these “little boxes” often claim outrageous energy savings—sometimes as much as 30 percent or more―couched around legitimate utility terms like power conditioning, capacitors, and power factor.
The bogus marketing spiel usually goes something like this: The model being sold will control alternating current power factor and reduce electric bills. It will condition your power and make appliances last longer. It uses no power and has no moving parts. It will make motors in your home run better.
Accompanying materials often caution “your utility doesn’t want you to know about this device.” That last part is true—because these boxes are a rip-off.
What’s the reality? While electric co-ops use various components to correct power factor for commercial and industrial consumers, power factor correction is not a concern with homes.
Engineers at the University of Texas-Austin concluded that one of the units could produce no more than a 0.06 percent reduction in electric use in an average house. The Electric Power Research Institute, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based non-profit research consortium made up of electric utilities, including electric cooperatives, recently tested one of the most popular residential power factor correction products and found that it generated average power savings of just 0.23 percent—far from the 30 percent claimed by its manufacturer. At that rate, it would take a typical homeowner more than 70 years to recoup his or her investment.
In short, these devices are nothing more than ordinary capacitors employed in electronic circuits to store energy or differentiate between high- and low-frequency signals. Companies selling these products change names quickly and often, and move from town to town looking for new victims.
There are several questions you should ask a sales representative when reading an ad for the next magical cure-all:
Does the product violate the laws of science? For example, does it claim to be capable of “changing of the molecular structure … to release never-before tapped power.” If true, the invention would quickly be sold in every store across nation, not marketed through fliers or a poorly designed website.
Was the product tested by an independent group? If the performance of the product was not tested and certified by a lab or entity not connected to the company selling it, be very skeptical. Don’t allow a salesman to verify claims. One popular trick is to hook up the little box to a motor and a power meter. When turned on, the meter records a drop in what appears to be power consumption. This is a trick—the meter is actually recording reactive power. This is not the same type of meter hanging on the side of your home.
Is it too good to be true? If so, it probably is. A video getting play on the Internet shows a consumer reporter for a television station testing one of these little boxes. By looking at electric bills before and after installation, he concludes the device is a good buy. However, an excessively hot or unusually cool day can cause one month’s electric bill to run significantly higher or lower than the previous month. Wise consumers always ask to see electric use for the same month from the previous year(s), not previous month, and factor in weather anomalies for any savings claims.
Brian Sloboda is a program manager specializing in energy efficiency for the Cooperative Research Network, a service of the Arlington, Va.-based National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Additional research provide by ESource.
The Cooperative Research Network monitors, evaluates, and applies technologies that help electric cooperatives control costs, increase productivity, and enhance service to their consumers.
American Blackout
Filmed as a fictional docudrama, National Geographic Channel’s “American Blackout,” premiering tonight, depicts the first 10 days immediately following a nationwide blackout caused by a cyber attack that takes down the entire electric power grid. The movie focuses on several different storylines of how people deal with the blackout. The movie is presented in “real time” by using video clips from recent events, like Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Katrina, the 2003 Eastern US blackout, and footage of President Obama addressing the nation.
While the movie is an excellent reminder to be prepared for routine power outages and natural disasters, the current design and operation of the American power grid makes a total electric grid failure, as depicted in the movie, highly unlikely in the real world.
Electric cooperatives take cybersecurity seriously; they have and will continue to take significant steps to protect the reliability and security of the electric system – transmission, generation and distribution. We also partner with federal agencies, including the Department of Energy and Homeland Security, to research threats, strengthen security measures and mitigate risk.
To help your family be better prepared for inevitable, routine power outages, visit redcross.org.
Cooperative Difference research scheduled
The Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association will be fielding the National Survey on the Cooperative Difference statewide beginning in October. The Co-op Difference project is conducted annually by Touchstone Energy and TSE Services, a subsidiary of the North Carolina statewide.
Five hundred telephone interviews will be conducted with co-op members across the state, and our goal is to better understand how different generations of electric cooperative members view their electric provider and how cooperatives can better communicate the value of cooperative membership.
Survey results will help cooperatives:
Additionally, TECA will use the results to craft future communication messages and support legislative activities.
At the conclusion of the research project, TECA and its member systems will each receive a report summarizing the regional study.
Contact Trent Scott for additional information.
Bowers named PEC president
John Bowers was selected by the PEC Board of Directors to fill the position of President upon the retirement of Karl Dudley.
Bowers started his career at PEC in 1992 as an electrical engineer after graduating from Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville. He received his Professional Engineering license in 1996. In 1997, Bowers was promoted to substation superintendent and shortly thereafter he assumed the manager of operations position. In 2010 he was named vice-president of operations.
John and his wife Karen live in Ramer and have two children, Seth and Sophie. The family attends the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer.
FPU earns high marks on TVA compliance audit
Fayetteville Public Utilities (FPU) has received high marks after an exhaustive audit performed by Tennessee Valley Authority’s Distributor Compliance Group.
During a presentation to FPU’s board of directors, Walter Haynes, representing TVA, told board members that FPU’s compliance audit was “one of the cleanest” he has seen since TVA began performing compliance assessments of each of TVA’s local power companies.
“The compliance audit that TVA does is an audit that looks at the operations of Fayetteville Public Utilities to determine if you are in compliance with the wholesale power contract that you have with the Tennessee Valley Authority,” he explained. “The compliance audit looks at 14 different areas that are required by the wholesale power contract we have with FPU.”
According to Haynes, each of TVA’s 155 power companies will be assessed on a recurring four-year cycle, with testing focused on contract areas of billing, discriminatory practices and uses of revenue. And, while FPU was scheduled to have its compliance audit performed next year, CEO and General Manager Britt Dye requested TVA perform the audit this summer.
“Because of some not-so-favorable publicity that another utility had from a comptroller’s audit from the state of Tennessee, Britt (Dye) asked us to come on in and do the compliance audit,” Haynes explained, referring to the scathing audit handed down on Lincoln County Board of Public Utilities last year.
Of the 14 areas of focus on TVA’s compliance report, FPU was in full compliance in eight of those areas, Haynes said.
“FPU had a terrific compliance audit,” Haynes told the board. “Fayetteville Public Utilities exhibits a culture which promotes compliance with the TVA contract.
“Fayetteville Public Utilities is very, very fortunate to have the experience and knowledgeable staff that’s here. It’s something you should be very proud of,” he said. “I can tell you in working with a total of eight distributors, that’s not always the case with all utilities.
“…this is the sixth compliance audit I’ve seen, and this is the cleanest compliance report of those six.”
The compliance audit revealed six reportable results, all of which are minor issues, Haynes said. The issues identified – none of which had a financial impact – have been corrected or have a plan in place to be corrected and include such actions as adopting written documents to specify TVA-approved rate codes, installing a demand meter for one customer required to have such a meter and refunding 51-cents to a customer for an incorrect adjustment.
“When we get down to the meat of what has to be corrected,” he said, “it’s almost nothing in all areas. None of these are bad.”
Following Haynes’ presentation, Dye expressed his appreciation to the FPU staff for their work and said he is pleased with the results.
“We were scheduled to have a compliance audit from TVA in 2014 but requested that audit in 2013,” Dye said after the meeting. “This was a detailed audit that checked compliance with our TVA contract, and the results were very good. We are working to provide the proper documentation in the few issues noted in the audit, and there was no financial impact associated with those issues.”
Janine Wilson, chairman of FPU’s board of directors, praised Dye and the FPU employees after the board was informed of the audit results.
“It was no surprise to me or the other board members that FPU had extremely high marks on the recent compliance report,” Wilson said after the meeting. “Mr. Dye and the employees at FPU go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that things are done correctly and report to the board each month on compliance issues.
“We are all proud of the job that they do, and this community should be proud of such a well-run organization,” she added. “Congratulations to the entire staff at FPU.”
Sequachee Valley safety demo trailer
Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative recently completed their Live Line Safety demonstration trailer.
“We have already hosted a few safety demonstrations for volunteer fire departments, two for CRC co-op camp in Dunlap and a contractor’s meeting hosted by Lowe’s,” says SVEC’s Shelby Potterfield.
The trailer was built by district operations manager Jarvis Wooten and line foreman Dean Cartwright. In the photo, Dean Cartwright shows a group of volunteer fire fighters from Dunlap the importance of a lineman’s personal protective equipment.
MLEC reaches member service milestones
Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative is proud to announce that My Power My Way, MLEC’s prepay electricity option, has reached 500 users since the program’s start in March. MyUsage.com, MLEC’s online energy monitoring service, has reached a total of 200 users.
With My Power My Way, residential members pay for electricity before it is used much like putting gas in their vehicle. When the tank gets low, homeowners will receive an alert via phone, text, or email with a reminder to add more money to their account so that the electric service stays active. The program eliminates late fees and deposits for participating accounts.
MyUsage.com, is free and allows all MLEC members to watch their daily electric consumption online. They see firsthand how daily temperatures and personal activities relate to higher energy consumption and higher energy bills. They can sign up to get emails when a higher than normal amount of energy is consumed by the account in a 24-hour period.
“Both services encourage homeowners and businesses to monitor their energy use and make changes to how and when electricity is used,” says President and CEO Hal Womble. ”
For more information on My Power My Way or MyUsage.com call your local office or visit www.mlec.com.
Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative, a Touchstone Energy® cooperative, is a non-profit organization offering reliable, low-cost electricity to 35,000 members in Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Lewis and Perry counties. Member – electric power companies of Middle Tennessee. Remember to play it safe around electricity.
September employee updates
Each month we share news and updates, promotions and retirements that we receive from our co-ops. Below are updates from September.
Cumberland EMC
Todd Hesson was selected to replace Akins as District Engineer in Portland. Hesson previously worked in Gallatin as the Engineering Technician. (photo)
TVA board approves budget, rate increase
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ― The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors approved a $10.5 billion fiscal year 2014 budget at its meeting Thursday and a 1.5 percent retail rate increase – TVA’s first increase in two years. Less than the economy’s modest growth in inflation since TVA’s last rate increase in 2011, the rate adjustment will add about $1.50 to the monthly power bill of a residential consumer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
“While we never like to raise rates, this small adjustment is necessary to meet our 2014 revenue requirements and operate our system safely and reliably,” said TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson. “We will also make critical capital investments to keep reliability high and meet environmental standards and contribute to paying down debt.” TVA’s fiscal year 2014 budget anticipates 4.6 percent lower sales year over year and is about 6 percent less than 2013, including capital expenditures of $3.3 billion for Watts Bar 2 nuclear plant and clean air controls at Gallatin Fossil Plant. Johnson said TVA’s priorities include “living within our means” by bringing operations and maintenance expenses in line with recent trends in declining electricity sales and revenues. “Demand for our product is down and that won’t change anytime soon. The weather, the economy, energy efficiency/demand response, and rate design are all factors,” Johnson said. “We’re working harder than ever to reduce our costs, but they are not declining at the rate of our sales and revenues.”
TVA is executing a plan to reduce O&M costs by $500 million by 2015 with employees and leadership identifying efficiencies, cost reductions and cost avoidance opportunities. Nearly $150 million in reductions have been achieved this fiscal year with plans for an additional $150 million by the end of 2014 and another $200 million in 2015.
“We are taking action to improve TVA’s operations and financial health so it continues to serve the region for years to come,” Johnson said. Additional priorities include evaluating future operations of the remainder of the coal fleet, preserving the unfinished Bellefonte nuclear plant as an option for future power generation, continuing to explore Small Modular Reactor nuclear technology, promoting economic development in the region and updating the Integrated Resource Plan, the long-term strategy for TVA’s energy supply as they enter FY14.
Johnson said that TVA employees remain focused on delivering outstanding service while carrying out TVA’s unique mission of delivering safe, clean, reliable energy at low rates as well as promoting economic development and providing resource stewardship.
The new budget and rate adjustment go into effect with TVA’s new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, 2013.
Additional Board Actions
The board also approved new programs to foster economic growth in the Tennessee Valley. The TVA Valley Commitment Program will give credit to manufacturing customers for their ongoing commitment to the Valley. The Small Manufacturing Rate Program will give small industrial customers a rate alternative for operating during off-peak demand periods. These new programs and enhancements are intended to serve as interim measures while TVA works with customers and other stakeholders on a longer-term rate strategy, Johnson said.
In other action, the board:
Herrod joins TECA staff
NASHVILLE – Krista Herrod of Hendersonville joined the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association Monday, Aug. 19, as an administrative assistant. A 2010 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro with a degree in nutrition and food science, Herrod previously worked as a receptionist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She grew up in Hendersonville and graduated from Beech High School. In her spare time, Herrod enjoys running, traveling and scrapbooking.
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August 2013
Chickasaw EC recognized as solar leader
Somerville, Tenn.—A renewable energy survey recognizes the customers of Chickasaw Electric Cooperative as one of the top consumers of solar-generated power in the nation. According the report from the Solar Electric Power Association, CEC generates an average of 216.7 watts of solar energy per customer, the fifth most of any utility in the nation.
This is the first time Chickasaw EC has ranked on the survey. The recognition follows the installation of the West Tennessee Solar Farm in early 2012, which generates 5 megawatts of solar power brought onto the TVA power grid through Chickasaw EC.
The West Tennessee Solar Farm, located in Haywood County, is a cooperative program between the University of Tennessee, Chickasaw EC, TVA and others. It adds about five megawatts of solar power onto the TVA grid, which is enough to power 500 homes. The power harnessed at the solar farm enters the TVA grid through Chickasaw EC lines. The West Tennessee Solar Farm is the largest single source of solar power in the TVA system.
John Collins, General Manager for Chickasaw EC accepted a plaque to mark the occasion at the utility’s August 6 annual meeting in Somerville.
“It is a true honor to be recognized by SEPA for our efforts to add solar power to the TVA system,” Collins said. “The West Tennessee Solar Farm is a tremendous asset to our community and to know it is one of the top per capita generating systems in the country is a feather in our cap.”
TVA currently owns or purchases more than 6,315 megawatts of renewable generation capacity, including 77 megawatts of solar energy.