SACE urges KUB to refrain from signing the bad-deal contract the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has strongly been encouraging local power companies to sign.

Last Thursday, I attended the Knoxville Utility Board’s (KUB) monthly Board meeting where I encouraged KUB to refrain from signing the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) new long-term contracts. The utility has been strongly encouraging local power companies (LPC) to enter 20-year all requirement contracts, over the current 5-year contracts. While the long-term contract TVA is presenting to LPC’s come with a few incentives, after scrutinizing the ill-defined and non-flexible contract, it’s clear to us at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) that what TVA is laying out on the table isn’t worth the negatives associated with signing it.

Read the PDF of the letter here.

Watch Steve Smith speak at KUB’s Board Monthly Board Meeting 10/17/19 here (1:10).

So far 131 other utilities across TVA’s service territory have signed the new contract. Notably some of TVA’s largest customers, including Memphis Light, Gas and Water have not signed. It’s unclear to us at SACE how much KUB’s Board will be involved in the decision to move forward with them. We have unsuccessfully reached out to KUB’s CEO Gabe Bolas on the issue. Regardless, we urge KUB to not prematurely sign the contract and retain power and flexibility for the customers they serve to achieve Knoxville’s newly established carbon goals.