Dive Brief:
- The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) reported a loss of $81 million for Q3 2014, compared to a loss of $12 million for the same period last year.
- Despite the increase in losses in Q2, TVA reported its earnings for the first nine months of fiscal 2014 are $147 million, up from last year's $203 million loss for the same period.
- TVA said this quarter's loss was due to shrinking electric sales and higher operating costs.
Dive Insight:
Electricity sales to TVA's partner utilities were up 1.1% in Q3 and up 5.4% for the year-to-date over the same period in 2013. However, total electricity sales were down 3% for the year-to-date over last year. This is because the U.S. Enrichment Corp., which was TVA's largest industrial customer, closed its operations in Kentucky towards the end of 2013.
TVA is also engaged in a $500 million cost-cutting initiative that has seen over 2,000 jobs lined up for the chopping block. It's single largest number of job cuts the utility has seen in over 20 years.
