EPB electric prices rise with fuel costs
The typical Chattanooga household will pay an extra $3.67 for electricity next month due to higher fuel costs.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, the federal utility that supplies power to Chattanooga's EPB and 152 other local power companies, is raising its monthly fuel cost adjustment again in May due to higher coal costs and anticipated increases in power consumption.
"The May fuel rate is 32% higher than the three-year average," TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said.
Although TVA has not raised its base electric rates since 2019, the utility adjusts part of its electricity prices each month to reflect changes in the price of coal, natural gas and purchased power used to supply power across its seven-state region.
For the typical EPB homeowner in Chattanooga using 1,295 kilowatt-hours a month, the higher fuel rate in May will boost the monthly power bill to $132.97, or 2.8% more than in the current month.
Compared with May 2022, Chattanooga households will pay an average increase in electricity charges next month of $1.32, or about 1% more than what they paid a year earlier, according to EPB.
Credit Suisse accused of Nazi-linked accounts
U.S. lawmakers have accused the embattled Swiss bank Credit Suisse of limiting the scope of an internal investigation into Nazi clients and Nazi-linked accounts.
The Senate Budget Committee said an independent ombudsman initially brought in by the bank to help lead the probe was "inexplicably terminated" as he carried out his work. The committee faulted "incomplete" reports that were hindered by restrictions.
Credit Suisse said Tuesday that it's "fully cooperating" with an investigation by the committee but rejected some claims from a Jewish human rights group that brought to light in 2020 allegations of possible Nazi-linked accounts at the bank.
Price cuts lower Tesla profit margins
Price reductions across the model lineup cut into Tesla's first-quarter net income, causing it to fall 24% from a year ago.
The Austin, Texas, electric car and solar panel company said Wednesday it made $2.51 billion from January through March, down from $3.32 billion a year ago. Revenue rose 24% to $23.33 billion, but the company's operating profit margin fell.
Tesla made an adjusted 85 cents per share in the first quarter, matching analyst estimates. Early in the quarter Tesla reduced U.S. prices on many of its models, then did it a second time early in March. The company slashed U.S. prices two more times in April in an effort to boost demand.
UK inflation tops 10% as food prices still rise
LONDON — The price of food in the U.K. rose at the fastest pace in 45 years last month, keeping inflation above 10% for a seventh straight month amid a cost-of-living crisis that has fueled a wave of strikes by government workers.
The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that food prices jumped 19.2% in the 12 months through February, the biggest increase since August 1977.
Overall, consumer price inflation eased to 10.1%, from 10.4% the previous month, as the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel fell. The March figure was above the 9.8% rate economists had forecast.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner