TVA electricity rates will not go up in October

By The Associated Press

KNOXVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Valley Authority is holding the line on electricity rates for the coming year.

TVA’s board of directors voted Thursday to approve an $11.2 billion budget for the financial year that begins Oct. 1 that does not include a rate hike to wholesale power distributors.

TVA’s rate actions are usually passed on by the distributors to residential and commercial customers in Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia.

Last year the board raised rates by 2 percent and it also made pricing adjustments during the year for fluctuating fuel costs.

TVA was able to keep rates steady in spite of losing $290 million in the first three quarters of the fiscal year. The loss was the result of the mildest winter in decades that kept customers from using as much electricity as normal. A heat wave in the summer that caused a record demand for electricity still helped little, officials said.

“We’ve had a challenging year, but we’ve gotten through that — almost through that — and we’ve put together a budget for next year without a rate increase, and so I think that’s a tribute to the workers at TVA and everything we’ve done to increase our productivity and manage the work that has to be done,” TVA CEO Tom Kilgore said at a press conference.

TVA was able to offset some of the losses after implementing a cost-cutting program earlier this year that called for the elimination of 1,000 positions in addition to delaying some capital projects.

Powered Equipment Technology, six in Pipefitting and Plumbing, five in HVAC/Refrigeration and three in Millwright Skills.

Among 264 graduates of full-time training programs were 88 from Carter County, 62 from Washington County, 52 from Sullivan County, 22 from Johnson County, 14 from Hawkins County, nine from Unicoi County, seven from Greene County, five from Virginia, four from North Carolina and one from Hamblen County.

TTC-Elizabethton also presented Certificates of Completion to 21 students from cities and towns in six states who completed the online Dietary Manager Training Program. The program, which takes eight months to complete, prepares students for the national credentialing exam to become a Certified Dietary Manager and employment in hospitals, nursing homes, schools and correctional and large day care facilities across the United States.

Full-time training programs at TTC-Elizabethton take 12 to 20 months to complete. In the 12-month period ending Aug. 31, 2011, the program completion rate at TTC-Elizabethton was 88 percent, the job placement rate was 86 percent, and the licensure passage rate was 96 percent on the Tennessee Board of Nursing exam. TTC-Elizabethton is governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents and accredited by the Commission of the Council on Occupational Education.