The Tennessee Valley Authority announced today that it will cut wholesale electricity rates by 1.5 percent next month, more than offsetting the 1 percent fuel cost adjustment increase implemented this month.
TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said the average residential customer in the Tennessee Valley should save $1 to $2 in February.
In Chattanooga, EPB estimates that an average household using 1,461 kilowatt-hours of electricity will save $1.70 in February.
"We're expecting temperatures to moderate in February and be back near normal," Brooks said today. "That should reduce the amount of the more expensive purchased power we buy on the market."
TVA adjusts its rates monthly to reflect changes in what it pays for coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel and power purchased from other utilities.
Even with next month's reduction, however, wholesale power rates will still be up by more than 20 percent from February 2009 because of changes in the fuel cost adjustments. Rates still are below the peak reached in October 2008.
TVA has not changed its base rate for operations and maintenance since October 2009, Brooks said.
Read more in Saturday's Times Free Press.