In line with its mission of service, TVA is making up to $1 billion of credit support available to the Valley's local power companies to help keep power flowing to those affected by COVID-19.

MARCH 26, 2020 — For more than eight decades, TVA and the local power companies (LPCs) across the Valley have worked shoulder to shoulder to make life better for the people we serve. In good times, and hard times, we have partnered to serve as only public power can.

Service is the foundation of the Tennessee Valley Public Power Model—service to people and families, businesses and industries, and the communities we call home.

Today, as TVA and LPCs work together to support the Valley in these unprecedented times, our partnership to serve is stronger than ever.

We are partnering to keep electricity reliable for the 10 million people we serve. And we are partnering to address the growing economic pressure that many are facing in communities throughout the Valley. We are committed to doing what’s right for the people and communities we serve.  We understand that our actions can make an immediate and meaningful difference.

Right now, as businesses, schools and other entities reduce or suspend normal operations as a result of COVID-19, many of our friends and neighbors are losing their incomes. In response, many LPCs are suspending disconnections of customers who cannot pay their power bills. The TVA Board has approved significant actions that will enable TVA to support our LPC partners in these and other efforts to lend a helping hand to their communities and customers in these challenging conditions.

First, we will leverage TVA’s strong balance sheet to make available to LPCs up to a total of $1 billion in credit support. This support will provide LPCs with flexibility on the timing of their wholesale payments to TVA, which, in turn, will help LPCs maintain their own financial stability as they support the needs of their customers through such measures as suspending disconnections.

Second, in its role as regulator, TVA will provide LPCs with more flexibility to meet immediate customer needs in a fair, consistent manner. This means giving LPCs more discretion in how they handle non-payments or late payments by their customers and expediting TVA’s regulatory rate review of temporary LPC policies and provisions.

And third, TVA is actively engaged in discussions about the recently passed federal stimulus package. We’re also looking into other potential federal, state and local funding that could benefit the Valley.

These important and immediate actions, taken in partnership with LPCs, are made possible by the excellent financial performance that our employees have helped TVA achieve in recent years. And they demonstrate the unique and wide-ranging value that the Tennessee Valley Public Power Model provides to the people of our region.

TVA has significant expertise and opportunity for supporting public power’s ongoing mission of service during this difficult time. We and our LPC partners will continue to work together closely as we monitor the evolving needs of the Valley and help support the region’s response and recovery.