TVA Quarterly Board of Directors Meeting, August 22, 2013 Knoxville, Tennessee - MORE DEBT

(TVA old logo, Fair Use Rights for non-profit educational usage)

 

BIG NEWS - MORE DEBT - HIGHER RATES

3rd Quarter FY 2013 Tennessee Valley Authority's Quarterly Board meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee - TVA links:.
Meeting News Release
TVA Presentation
Solar News Release
Rate Action Fact Sheet
Solar Programs Fact Sheet
Renewable Programs Fact Sheet
Video of listening session
Video of meeting

 

 Big news - TVA debt continues to grow, executives give excuses and predict the debt will fall but offer no reasonable, sensible solution for debt reduction. Also, this is an old story that has been told for the past 25 years.

 

 The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors approved a $10.5 billion fiscal year 2014 budget at its meeting Thursday and a 1.5 percent retail rate increase.

Rate Adjustment

-The TVA board of directors approved a 1.5 percent retail electric rate increase, effective with the FY 2014 budget on Oct. 1, 2013.

-The increase will be about $1.50 a month for the residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Chattanooga Times Free Press article: "TVA directors today approved a $10.5 billion budget for fiscal 2014 that will raise base rates by 1.5 percent on Oct. 1. The increase will boost the monthly electric bill for a typical residential customer about $1.50."    http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/aug/22/tva-power-demand-falls/   also: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/aug/23/tva-rates-rise-power-sales-decline/

 

TVA DEBT 

Office of the Inspector General Special Project, Special Project 2009-13007-01

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Link: http://oig.tva.gov/reports/PDF/11rpts/2009-13007-01.pdf

"Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) faces a challenging financial situation in the near future. The company is making significant investments to improve the condition of existing assets, bring new ones on-line, and comply with environmental regulations. At the same time, TVA is

approaching a statutorily imposed debt ceiling of $30 billion, a major impediment to making

needed investments. TVA currently projects that it will have accumulated approximately $27.4

billion in debt and debt-like instruments in fiscal year (FY) 2012. Furthermore, in light of the nation’s current weak economy and TVA’s increased borrowings being considered part of the

federal deficit, TVA could have difficulties in getting the debt ceiling raised."

 

The TVA OIG Report gives a historical accounting of TVA debt which I summarize as follows: (A) 1996- $26 billion debt, Executives stated they would reduce the debt by half to $13.2 billion in 10 years, they failed. (B) 2004 and subsequent years up to 2011 there were several attempts to reduce debt, all failed. History listed on page 6 of the OIG report at the above link.

 

TVA's CFO John Thomas, Aug. 22, 2013, makes more debt predictions.

 

TVA Raccoon Mountain 1600 Mega Watt Pumped Storage Facility Update 

VIDEO Part 1 Presidents Report

 

 

VIDEO Part 2 Financial Report 

 

TVA Board Chairman Bill Sansom 

 

TVA OIG Report as mentioned in the Quarterly Report,  ( Aug. 5. 2013 OIG Report, link: http://oig.tva.gov/reports/audit-inpsections.html  ) no conflicts of interest, concerning Mr. Sansom's Director positions with other private corporations doing business with the TVA.   (Full Report)

 

 Chairman of the TVA and on Bank Corporation Board of Directors (resigned in 2012), page 6 of the OIG Report, TVA paid over $6 million dollars to the Bank in 2010. The OIG reports no conflicts of interest but leaves it up to the public to determine if there was the appearance of a conflict of interest.

 

Other companies did provide products to the TVA in which the Chairman served on the board. However, it was stated that the chairman was not involved in any of the transactions, which were small in size. 

 

Information gathered and presented at the last TVA Board Meeting, and to the OIG for their disposition of choice, was public information available and accessible on the web about the public and private corporate offices held by Mr. Sansom, including his reportable financial holdings.

 

Individual employed by TVA is not Mr. Sansom's relative although the the name is the same as his relative.

 

Chattanooga Times Free Press article: "Charges against TVA chairman dismissed" http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/aug/22/charges-against-tva-chairman-dismissed/?news  There never were any charges as the inquiry was an "administrative inquiry" (OIG report) as a result of publically available information concerning Mr. Sansom.

 

"Nuk'em Bills" - More Costs and Debt for Watts Bar?