The Tennessee Valley Authority more than tripled its net income in the first three months of 2010 compared with a year ago.
In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange released today, TVA reported that it earned $430 million on revenues of more than $2.6 billion in the fiscal quarter ended March 31. A year ago in the same period, TVA earned $133 million on revenues of more than $2.9 billion.
Most of the improvement came from cheaper fuel costs and from a different accounting this year of the cleanup costs for the Kingston ash spill. Fuel and purchased power costs in the most recent quarter totaled $605 million, or only half of the $1.2 billion spent in the same period a year ago. Natural gas, oil and coal prices have declined in the past year despite a 10 percent jump in electricity sales this winter over last because of the colder weather.
The results for the second quarter of 2009 included $150 million of expenses related to the ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant, which was reclassified as a regulatory asset last August and not counted in this year’s most recent quarter.
Despite the increase in sales, revenues decreased 11 percent in the most recent quarter because of reductions in TVA’s fuel cost adjustment.