The Tennessee Valley Authority is paying each of the four regional vice presidents it added to the federal utility two years ago more than a quarter million a year in salary and bonuses, according to pay levels for the executives disclosed in response to a lawsuit on behalf of the Institute for Public Service Reporting in Memphis.
Critics of TVA said Friday the executive-level jobs are not necessary and were created as part of a multimillion-dollar campaign by TVA to help persuade Memphis Light Gas & Water and other power companies to continue buying their wholesale power from TVA rather than shop around for other potentially cheaper sources.
“This is just another example of how bureaucratic and top-heavy TVA has gotten,” said Karl Schledwitz, a Memphis businessman who helped co-found a group that wanted Memphis to leave the TVA fold and buy power from other wholesale suppliers. “TVA is more than $20 billion in debt and yet it decided to create four of these executive jobs out of thin air to promote a PR campaign that has no benefit to the ratepayers.”
(READ MORE: TVA faces rising cost pressure that likely will push up power rates)