Congressmen Cohen and Burchett Introduce the TVA Increase Rate of Participation (IRP) Act

WASHINGTON – Congressmen Steve Cohen (TN-9) and Tim Burchett (TN-2) today introduced the TVA Increase Rate of Participation (IRP) Act to require greater transparency and accountability in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) process. The IRP process is a comprehensive study projecting how the nation’s largest federal utility meets energy needs. The measure would increase public participation and input and make the process more transparent in an effort to ensure the most efficient, affordable, environmentally conscious, and reliable plan for meeting customers’ energy needs.

On January 25, during “The People’s Voice on TVA’s Energy Plan” public hearing event in Nashville, Congressman Cohen, a longtime critic of TVA secrecy, made a video presentation in which he unveiled plans for the legislation being introduced today.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

“Transparency is critical in making public policy and, for too long, TVA’s decision-making has been obscure and opaque, such as their current IRP process where organizations had to be hand-selected to participate in their working group. This bill requires the TVA to take into consideration the interests and informed views of affected stakeholders, including ratepayers and subject-matter experts, as is commonplace for other major utilities. TVA needs outside guidance to meet the changing needs of utility customers as it addresses resiliency and other foreseeable disruptions to its planning.”

Congressman Burchett made the following statement:

“East Tennesseans rely on TVA's services for their everyday life, and they deserve the chance to gain insight into TVA’s decision-making process and the opportunity to offer input. I appreciate the ways TVA has made an effort to become more transparent in recent years, and this would provide some solid guidelines on how to make that even more of a reality.”

Stakeholder endorsements for the TVA IRP Act:

“For too long, TVA has refused to follow basic standards for public input and transparency that are considered common practice at most major utilities. We applaud Congressman Cohen and Congressman Burchett for their leadership in ensuring TVA’s power system planning includes the very people these decisions impact.” - Bri Knisley, Director of Public Power Campaigns, Appalachian Voices

“When it comes to planning our collective energy future, there is nothing more important than ensuring the people’s voice is heard by our nation’s largest public utility,” said Jake Duncan, Southeast Regulatory Director for Vote Solar. “The TVA Increase Rate of Participation Act is a long-overdue yet monumental stride toward creating a meaningful, transparent, and inclusive energy plan for the TVA.”

“Unlike most other utilities, the Tennessee Valley Authority does not have a process for meaningful public and expert engagement during their energy planning, leaving TVA’s 10 million customers in the dark during critical decisions around energy prices, reliability, and more. Representatives Cohen and Burchett are taking bipartisan action to change that, and make our nation’s largest public utility more transparent and accountable to the people it serves. TVA was founded as a public utility to enrich and benefit the people, industries, and environment of the Tennessee Valley, and this legislation would help TVA live up to its mission.” -- Amy Kelly, Tennessee Field Organizing Strategist, Sierra Club.

“Energy Alabama is pleased to see Congressional action addressing a critical planning process that determines how TVA meets the energy needs of the future. We're especially eager to see TVA start to address long-range transmission as part of its planning process.” -- Daniel Tait, Executive Director, Energy Alabama

The bill is also supported by the Center for Biological Diversity, Mississippi Rising Coalition, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

The TVP IRP Act would open up the energy planning process and ensure meaningful public participation and the inclusion of third-party expert advice. Specifically, it would:   

• Establish an Office of Public Participation to engage with the public through direct outreach and education and solicit broader participation in issues affecting the Valley including by:
  • Acting as a liaison to members of the public by providing ongoing process information on individual proceedings and responding to requests for technical assistance;
  • Making recommendations to improve processes to ensure they are inclusive, fair and easy to navigate; and
  • Facilitating a process for meaningful and open public engagement in the IRP process including opportunities for intervention, discovery, filed comments and an evidentiary hearing.
• Require the IRP to include standard information, such as:
  • A long-term forecast of TVA’s sales and peak demand under various reasonable scenarios;
  • A summary of electrical transmission investments planned by TVA;
  • Resource portfolios that fairly evaluate demand-side and supply-side technologies;
  • Sensitivity analyses related to fuel costs, environmental regulations, electrification, distributed energy resources, and other uncertainties or risks;
  • Disclosure to intervening parties the modeling assumptions used in developing the IRP, including costs and constraints on the model; and
  • Details of how and where public input informed the plan; and
• Require the Board of Directors to issue a decision approving, denying or modifying the plan, like every other utility regulator, according to the least cost and reliability requirements in the Energy Policy Act of 1992, and require consideration of resilience, extreme weather risk, and public health impacts.

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