Nearly 20 years ago, the Tennessee Valley Authority and its main customers — local electric utilities — formed a new power company with a specific and unprecedented goal.
Seven States Power Corp., a cooperative owned by the region’s local utilities, like EPB in Chattanooga, would co-own power plants with TVA. The cooperative would put ownership of power plants in local hands rather than with the U.S. government, which owns TVA and its assets. Seven States would help the federal agency stay below its $30 billion legal debt limit.
From 2008 to 2013, Chattanooga-based Seven States owned a 90% stake in TVA’s Southaven gas plant in Mississippi. After TVA lowered its debt and bought Seven States out of the plant, the cooperative pivoted to being a development partner for local utilities as they installed solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations and grid-level batteries.
Now, Seven States leadership and members say the group is ready to return to its full founding mission of owning a stake in TVA power plants as the federal utility faces many of the same challenges from two decades ago.