TVA rates to drop 1.5 per cent
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE - The Tennessee Valley Authority announced that it will cut wholesale electricity rates by 1.5 percent next month, more than offsetting the 1 percent fuel cost adjustment increase implemented this month.
TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said the average residential customer in the Tennessee Valley should save $1 to $2 in February.
In Chattanooga, EPB estimates that an average household using 1,461 kilowatt-hours of electricity will save $1.70 in February.
“We’re expecting temperatures to moderate in February and be back near normal,” Brooks said today. “That should reduce the amount of the more expensive purchased power we buy on the market.”
TVA adjusts its rates monthly to reflect changes in what it pays for coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel and power purchased from other utilities.
Even with next monthÂ’s reduction, however, wholesale power rates will still be up by more than 20 percent from February 2009 because of changes in the fuel cost adjustments. Rates still are below the peak reached in October 2008.
TVA has not changed its base rate for operations and maintenance since October 2009, Brooks said.
Related News
N.L., Ottawa agree to shield ratepayers from Muskrat Falls cost overruns
ST JOHNS - Ottawa and Newfoundland and Labrador say they will rewrite the financial structure of the Muskrat Falls hydro project to shield ratepayers from paying for the megadam's cost overruns.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan and Premier Dwight Ball announced Monday that their two governments would scrap the financial structure agreed upon in past federal-provincial loan agreements, moving to a model that redirects benefits to ratepayers.
Both politicians called the announcement, which was light on dollar figures, a major milestone in easing residents' fears that electricity rates will spike sharply when the over-budget dam comes fully online next year.
"We…
