Electricity rates are edging higher in the Tennessee Valley, but TVA said its power costs are still in the bottom third of all U.S. utilities.
TVA directors are expected today to approve a budget plan for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 that will raise TVA base electric rates similar to the 1.5 percent annual increase adopted in each of the previous two years. The increase is slightly below the general inflation rate and will keep TVA competitive with most other electricity providers in the Southeast, according to TVA officials.
“The Tennessee Valley Authority has some of the lowest electric rates in the country,” TVA Chief Financial Officer John Thomas said in a recent report titled “How TVA Helps Keep Your Power Bill Low.” “Sixty-nine percent of customers of the top 100 utilities in the United States pay more for electricity than we do.”
TVA’s average delivered cost of power by the 154 power cooperatives and municipalities in its seven-state region is now about 9 cents per kilowatthour, which is about 7 percent less than the median price of 9.7 cents per kwh among the top 100 electric utilities in the country.
For the typical Chattanooga household, the base rate increase will boost the monthly light bill by about $2, starting in October.