New TVA policy means less information about operations

New TVA policy means less information about operations

By The Associated Press

CHATTANOOGA — The Tennessee Valley Authority no longer discloses current information about power loads, business operations or shutdowns of its power plants.

Under new policies, the Knoxville-based federal utility also is not publicly estimating peak power demands in the Tennessee Valley.

TVA officials say such information could increase the cost of power the agency buys or lower the amount it receives for electricity it generates and sells to other utilities.

"We're on a trading floor now, and if the market knows that one of our units is down, power markets can more easily raise the price of what they sell to us," TVA President O.J. "Ike" Zeringue told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "That's never a good situation."

TVA still reports immediately to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission when one of its nuclear plants goes down — as a matter of public safety and regulation — though TVA might not say when it will be back in service.

The agency also continues to report unit operating results and fuel consumption on a monthly basis to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

"It is not just TVA; all utilities treat that information confidentially," TVA spokesman Gil Francis said.

But critics claim TVA is often shielded from public scrutiny and is blocking information needed for a competitive market to operate freely.

"Under the guise of 'potential business competition,' TVA is withholding a lot of information," said Michael Knauff, a former TVA power trader who now heads Tennessee Power Co., an independent power producer in Chattanooga.

"The exchange of data is necessary to have a fluid and effective market, but TVA doesn't want anyone to know what they are doing so no one can criticize them. If TVA is going to operate just like a private business, maybe it should just be one."

Until recently, TVA regularly disclosed its plans for buying, generating and transmitting power around its seven-state service territory. But the growing competition and deregulation in the electricity industry encouraged the agency to keep quiet about many of its operations.

TVA now limits access for even its own staff to a trading room adjacent to the power load center where TVA buys and sells power each day.

"There is a problem when we are out purchasing power if other people know that our plants aren't operating or they know what we are planning to buy that day," Zeringue said. "If they know one of our big assets is down, then the price that is available to us for buying power will probably be just under what it would cost if we fired up our gas turbines (TVA's most expensive power generation)."

He said many inquiries about TVA's power status come from competitors interested in gaining a price advantage, not from consumers trying to ensure the agency keeps its costs down.

Environmentalists complain that the increased secrecy makes it difficult to evaluate TVA's decisions and operations.

"I think it is a very dangerous trend," said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a Knoxville-based consumer and environmental group. "We don't necessarily want TVA to be at a competitive disadvantage, but whether or not a plant is running is certainly information that the public has a right to know about."