Warming weather and economic activity combined to boost electricity consumption in the Tennessee Valley by 6.1 percent this spring over the previous period, TVA reported Monday.
In the fiscal quarter ended June 30, TVA earned $199 million in net income on revenues of nearly $2.59 billion. A year ago, TVA lost $167 million on revenues of $2.57 billion, although $258 million of the previous year’s loss was because of expenses from the ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant in late 2008.
After falling more than 20 percent during the recession in 2008 and 2009, industrial power sales rebounded this spring with a 12 percent gain over the year-ago period.
TVA Chief Financial Officer John Thomas said the gain “indicates some signs of growth in the regional economy” and has led TVA to revise upward its projected sales for all of fiscal 2010.
In the spring quarter, residential and commercial power sales also rose 4.9 percent, primarily because of hotter weather this spring over last year. Thomas said average temperatures were nearly 5 degrees higher than normal in May and June across TVA’s seven-state region.
The Tennessee Valley also experienced a wetter-than-normal fall and above-average rainfall in May, enabling TVA to run lower-cost hydroelectric generation at 36 percent above 2009’s output through the first three quarters of the fiscal year.
Through the first nine months of fiscal 2010, TVA earned $779 million in net income — one of the most profitable years in the utility’s 77-year history.
As a government-owned utility, TVA reinvests net income in its power business, including new generation capacity, environmental controls, transmission improvements and energy efficiency projects. TVA receives no taxpayer money.
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