KNOXVILLE – With staffing already at its lowest level ever, the Tennessee Valley Authority expects to continue trimming workers and consolidating its headquarters here into a single office as the demand for its power stagnates.
TVA directors Thursday approved a $10.37 billion spending plan for next year that continues to trim the 84-year-old utility’s staff and operating expenses, even as it boosts electric rates by an average 1.5 percent and pumps an extra $500 million into TVA’s underfunded pension plan.
The rate increase, effective Oct 1, will cost the typical Chattanooga homeowner nearly $2 more a month. Across TVA’s seven-state region, the 1.5 percent wholesale rate hike will generate another $195 million to help TVA pay down its debt and improve the financial status of its retirement plan.
The fiscal 2018 budget marks the third consecutive year in which TVA has held its base rate increases below the inflation rate. Combined with a drop in fuel costs over the past five years, TVA’s retail electric rates still average 2 percent less than they did in 2013 when TVA began a program to cut its operating expenses and its debt.
Among America’s 100 biggest utilities, TVA has the ninth-lowest industrial rates and the 26th-lowest residential rates, TVA President Bill Johnson said.