Electricity prices will rise in September for the seventh consecutive month, this time because of fuel costs pushed up by the hot, dry summer.
The average monthly power bill for Chattanooga homeowners will go up $2 under the fuel cost adjustment announced Friday by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Since March, TVA’s combined fuel cost adjustments have pushed up electricity rates by more than 25 percent, reversing declines during the recession of the previous two years.
“TVA is now forcing the most vulnerable people to turn off their heating or cooling because they can’t afford these bills,” said Louise Gorenflo, the founder of the Solar Valley Coalition in Crossville, Tenn., and a member of an advisory group helping to prepare TVA’s long-range power plans.
“Energy costs are going through the roof and so are people’s energy dollars because too few homes are properly insulated in the Tennessee Valley,” she said.