The Tennessee Valley Authority would be required to disclose more information about the pay levels of nearly all of its six-figure-income employees under legislation introduced in Congress Friday.
Three Tennessee congressmen from different political parties – U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville and U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Clarksville – are proposing a bill to amend the Ethics in Government Act to require TVA employees already subject to financial disclosure requirements to also disclose their total compensation, including salaries, bonuses, differentials and benefits. The measure introduced would require disclosure of the salaries of any TVA employee making 120 percent or more of the General Schedule 15 (GS-15), currently with annual salaries between $110,460 and $143,598.
TVA, the nation’s biggest government-owned utility, has the nation’s highest paid federal employee, and most of its nearly 10,000 workers earn pay levels well above the regional average. TVA President Jeff Lyash was paid a record-high $9.9 million in salary, bonuses and pension benefits in fiscal year 2021 to head the federal utility, according to TVA filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“TVA’s top earners are paid generously, and Southeastern communities should be able to evaluate if those salaries match the service provided by TVA,” Burchett said in a statement Friday. “Compensation transparency from TVA’s key decision makers is important for maintaining the public’s trust … TVA should always allow the folks in communities it serves to look under the hood.”
In its annual report for 2021, TVA said the median TVA employee’s annual total compensation was $139,953, which is over four times the average annual pay for all workers in Tennessee, according to ZipRecruiter. But most of TVA’s jobs require specialized skills and training to operate the third biggest nuclear power operation in the country and one of the nation’s largest transmission systems spread across seven states.
Lyash is paid nearly 20 times as much as the $400,000 salary paid to the president of the United States or the $434,300 salary paid last year to Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the president who is the most highly compensated federal employee paid by taxpayers. Two years ago, former President Donald Trump urged TVA to “reduce by a lot” what the utility pays its CEO.
But unlike most federal agencies, TVA employees do not receive taxpayer-funded salaries and customers generate 100 percent of operating revenues.
TVA sets its pay levels based upon salary comparisons with other electric utilities and comparable businesses and government agencies. But a compensation study of 42 other U.S. utilities by the consulting firm Frederic W. Cook & Co. Inc. found that Lyash still earns 28% below the industry average.
While TVA’s SEC filings disclose each of the multimillion-dollar pay packages for TVA’s top five officers, Cohen said he has had trouble finding out details about what TVA pays most of its workers.
“My repeated requests to the TVA for salary information have been rebuffed,” Cohen said in a statement Friday. “As a federal agency, its lack of transparency is unacceptable. The public, and the utility’s ratepayers, have a right to know what these public servants are being paid.”
Green said the bill is “an effort to ensure transparency across the TVA organization as a public utility.
“As Tennesseans, we understand the impactful work conducted by the Tennessee Valley Authority,” Green said in a statement Friday.
In an emailed statement Friday, TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said TVA “must attract and retain highly skilled individuals in a specialized industry” and “releasing this information could harm TVA’s ability to compete for this talent.
“The entire industry is competing for this talent as we all work toward a collective goal of a carbon-free energy future,” Hopson said. “That’s why we routinely benchmark with other utility peers to create a competitive compensation system. This ensures we have a well-rounded, diverse and skilled workforce that can deliver the outcomes our customers expect, including keeping rates low with continuing to pursue our decarbonization targets.”
As a self-funded agency, Hopson said TVA is “apart from other federal agencies that may have more detailed requirements.”
Sue Collins, TVA’s executive vice president of people and communications, said TVA engages independent auditors and consultants to benchmark its pay packages with other utilities and sets much of its management pay based upon TVA’s performance.
The TVA board that is appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate sets the pay of TVA’s CEO based upon the TVA Act requirements to pay competitive pay rates. TVA ‘s management, in turn, helps negotiate pay levels with unionized workers, which are approved by the board.
“We look at this issue very closely as a board, and Jeff is still paid below his peers in the industry,” TVA Chairman Bill Kilbride said last November when the TVA board authorized another pay raise for Lyash. “I think we have the right guy who understands the public mission of TVA, and we recognize the need to pay competitive salaries to keep the best talent.”
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.