The Tennessee Valley Authority said in a press release that misinformation is circulating regarding a proposed rate change.
The board of directors is considering a change to the group’s rate structure. Spokesman Scott Brooks said the new structure will make power bills more stable by fixing a portion of the bill so it is not affected by energy consumption. He said if the change is approved it will be up to local power companies whether to pass on the wholesale rate change to customers. Brooks said the change is not a “automatic rate increase.”
“There are and have been for a while that this is a rate increase and that it is targeting low income folks and folks that use solar energy the most and all of that is false,” Brooks said.
Brooks said the proposal takes five to six percent of a customer’s variable cost and creates fixed cost. This means that a percentage of the power bill would stay fixed regardless of energy use. He said the change reflects the need for TVA to cover costs such as their transmission system. Brooks said people generating a surplus of energy through solar panels will see a rate increase of roughly a dollar.
An energy watchdog group said the plan would disincentivize efficient energy practices. Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Executive Director Steven Smith said the change is “bad policy.”
“People are starting to generate some of their power, which is a good thing. And instead of TVA adjusting going forward to manage those new market dynamics, as a monopoly TVA can say ‘you know something, we’re just going to raise the amount that everybody has to pay us no matter how much they use’,” Smith said.
Smith said the change would affect low-income customers who use less energy to lower electric bills. He said the change would also limit a customers’ ability to install energy-efficient and solar upgrades because it would extend the payback period. TVA’s board of directors meets Thursday.
