Monday, May 10th, 2021 CNF posted a story regarding VEC https://crossvillenews1st.com/vec-working-harder-than-you-may-realize-on-every-level-with-pictures/

CNF was messesaged by Malinda Hunter, Public Relations Representative for TVA who had this to say:

I am part of the TVA media relations team and work with reporters in the eastern portion of the Tennessee Valley on several topics.

I read a recent article by Lisa Herrick about the hard work of VEC line workers. It’s great to see these essential workers highlighted for all they do. However, the leading paragraphs of the article naming TVA had some inaccuracies I’m hoping you can correct.

• TVA contract requirements: TVA is not requiring any customers to sign a 20-year contract. More than 90% of local power companies served by TVA have elected to sign the 20-year agreement that comes with additional benefits, such as a monthly 3.1% rebate. While we believe the 20 year agreement offers good benefits, it is completely optional and customers who choose not to sign up for the long term partner agreement can maintain a 5 year rolling contract. The long term contract helps TVA develop better business plans and keep costs low while providing incentives to those who sign on.

o   Another benefit of the 20-year partnership agreement is flexibility for power generation. Up to 5% of a partner’s average energy needs can be met by new distributed energy solutions built in their own service territory, ultimately helping carbon reduction efforts in the future.

I’d also like to offer TVA comment on the FERC filing by four local power companies (including VEC).

TVA’s transmission system was built for the benefit of its customers, who all equally bear the cost of its maintenance. In January 2021, four local power companies in the Tennessee Valley filed a petition with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, asking FERC to compel TVA to allow them to use TVA’s transmission system to deliver power to their customers from suppliers other than TVA.

These four companies want to use the TVA transmission system in a way that would shift their costs for using the transmission system to the other 149 local power companies served by TVA. That is fundamentally unfair, and it goes against the foundation of public power.  These four power companies made this request previously to TVA, which we denied consistent with the TVA Board’s longstanding policy on use of the transmission system. TVA serves a total of 153 local power companies across seven states, and more than 90% of them are committed to long-term (20-year) partnerships with TVA – partnerships in which the benefits of public power and the related costs are shared.

TVA was founded on public power principles, which ensure that all customers are treated fairly and equally, including paying their fair share of the costs of maintaining the power system.

Malinda Hunter

VEC president and CEO Rody Blevins responds to TVA:

The TVA comments on signing the 20-year contract as optional is correct. Nowhere else in the country do these kinds of 20-year evergreen power contracts exist. The 3.1 % credit is deceiving. It is 3.1% on our base rate which is 60% of the total bill. The 3.1% is equivalent to a 1.7% on the total bill. So TVA overstates the value of the credit.

TVA’s comments on the use of the transmission system, that we want to shift the costs to other local power companies is an absolute lie. If FERC rules in our favor and we get use of the TVA transmission system we would continue to pay TVA for the use of the system. There would be no cost shifting with regards to the transmission system. The VEC members have paid for the TVA transmission system for 80 years.

VEC is public power, we are owned by our members. As part of public power, our main goal is reliable service at the lowest cost. With TVA’s high wholesale power cost and excessive executive pay, they are not representing public power. TVA refuses to negotiate anything in regards to a new contract between VEC and TVA. This is not how public power is supposed to operate.

Rody Blevins