Each of the past two U.S. presidents has proposed selling some or all of the Tennessee Valley Authority to help pay down the federal debt, arguing that government ownership of America’s biggest public utility was no longer necessary or beneficial.
Congress never adopted the suggestions from either the Democratic Obama administration to sell all of TVA or the recommendation from the Republican Trump White House to split up TVA and sell its transmission assets.
But with a new president taking office last month and potentially pushing again to revamp the Tennessee Valley Authority, the TVA board commissioned an outside consulting firm last November to analyze TVA’s structure and status for the future.
The new study released Thursday by Lazard, one of the world’s leading financial advisory and asset management firms which previously analyzed TVA in 2014, reaffirms the value of TVA’s government ownership.
The study said TVA has paid down its debt by more than $6 billion over the past six years, addressing previous concerns by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about TVA potentially adding to the federal debt. TVA also has lowered wholesale power rates, which has helped reduce power expenses for the nearly 10 million persons served by TVA and its local power companies.