TVA Offers Flexibility During COVID-19 Outbreak
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced an initiative to support increased flexibility for local power companies who are responding to urgent customer needs during the ongoing response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
TVA provided regulatory flexibility to allow BTES and other local power companies to halt disconnection of electric service and respond quickly to customers’ immediate needs early in the situation.
“We appreciate TVA’s flexibility and support in what we are doing to help our customers through this difficult time,” said BTES CEO Mike Browder.
TVA is now also offering credit support as an option to BTES and other local power companies through the deferral of wholesale power payments based on the needs of individual local power companies.
“As long as our customers continue to pay their bills in a timely manner, as most of our customers are currently doing, we won’t need to participate in the deferral agreement – which would be ideal,” said Browder. “However, if more of our customers aren’t able to pay their BTES bill, this means that we won’t have the incoming money needed to pay TVA for the electricity we have purchased for our customers. If this happens, TVA’s initiative allows short term deferment of our costs to them while we work with our customers to receive the total balance owed on their accounts. While BTES is currently not disconnecting services, bills are continuing to accrue and will have to be paid.”
Detailed plans will be customized for each participating local power company based on individual needs and financial impacts, as needed. A portion of the BTES’ monthly TVA wholesale power payments could be deferred for a short period during the ongoing COVID-19 response and an appropriate repayment plan will be put in place, if necessary.
Browder continued, “We are working closely with TVA to determine how we can best support our customers.”
