Dive Brief:

• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is considering changing the way it charges for power, adding price signals and time-of-use rates to better reflect the cost of providing service and to help flatten out the utility's demand curves.
• TVA will vote on the measure in August, and new rates could go into effect in October, the Messenger-Inquirer reports.
• Earlier this month TVA's board extended an off-peak pricing pilot program that was slated to end before the new strategic pricing plan is finalized.

Dive Insight:

TVA said it is is working in partnership with its customers – local power companies and directly-served industrials – on a strategic pricing plan to establish a long-term direction for fair and competitive rates. And while the solution will not make everyone happy, utility officials say they have made efforts to include customer input in the decisions.

"We've spent a great deal of time trying to reach a consensus," Jack Simmons, executive director of the TVA Public Power Association, told the Times Free Press. "Not everyone may be totally happy with the end result, but this has been better process for our members than in the past with some other rate changes that have been made."

Earlier this month the board extended an “off-peak” pricing pilot program that was slated to end before the strategic plan is finalized. 

TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson said the utility is focused on producing electricity more efficiently, with cleaner, more diverse energy sources. The utility is working toward an optimal generation portfolio that is based on least-cost planning, demonstrates environmental stewardship, serves customers in a variety of future conditions, and promotes economic prosperity, he said.

“Overall, we must be able to efficiently match power supply to changing demands over the long term and from day to day,” Johnson said.