Lawmakers do not view bill as threat

North Alabama’s congressional delegation doesn’t view the latest effort to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority as a threat to the federal utility.

Michael Lowery, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said a bill introduced by in the Senate by U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Jim Bunning R-Ky., in March has yet to attract a companion bill in the House.

“It appears to be just a Senate bill,” Lowery said. “At this time, it’s not something that there has been much discussion about in our district.”

Aderholt’s district includes Franklin county.

McConnell’s and Bunning’s bill, titled Access to the Competitive Power Act of 2007, calls for establishing equal access and treatment with respect to federal power resources. A provision of the bill calls for a study into the privatization of TVA.

If the bill becomes law, TVA would be forced to allow other power distributors to use its transmission lines to sell electricity to customers within the Tennessee Valley.

Bunning calls it a way to bring cheaper power to Kentucky because it would allow customers served by TVA to secure less expensive power from other sources.

“All Kentuckians deserve to choose where they buy their power,” Bunning said in a prepared statement. “This bill will not only give them that choice, but it will also create a more competitive environment among Kentucky distributors and allow our business and residential consumers to keep more money in their pocket.”

Instead of reducing the cost of electricity, Richard Morrissey, manager of the Florence Electricity Department, said the legislation would drive up power bills in the Tennessee Valley.

Morrissey said the legislation would allow outside utilities to cherry pick the most lucrative customers in the Tennessee Valley, leaving TVA with those who use little electricity or live in rural areas where it is more costly to deliver power.

“It would not be good for the ratepayers of the Valley,” Morrissey said. “The investor-owned utilities would only be interested in the customers they could make money on. If that were to happen, our rates would go up.”

Morrissey does not expect the legislation to gain much support in Congress. He said similar bills that have been introduced in the past failed to gain momentum. “I don’t see it happening.”

Adam Muhlendorf, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala., said the congressman opposes Bunning and McConnell’s proposal.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R. Tenn., has strongly criticized the legislation.

Alexander said in a prepared statement the effect of the bill would be to “raise electric rates for TVA customers, making it more difficult to attract good jobs to Tennessee and actually deprive Kentuckians of the future option for reliable, low-cost power — even those not now served within the TVA distribution area.”

Critics of TVA argue that it’s time for the federal government to get out of the electrical power business and allow private utilities to sell electricity within the Tennessee Valley. Many critics contend investor-owned utilities would better serve the needs of the Tennessee Valley.

Steve Defoor, manager of the Russellville Electric Board, said selling TVA’s power system to private utilities would lead to higher prices for electricity in the Tennessee Valley.

Defoor said Russellville Utilties and other power distributors around northwest Alabama were part of a pilot group that studied purchasing electricity from utilities outside the Tennessee Valley instead of from TVA.

“We spent six months checking prices and never could beat TVA,” Defoor said. “If the people of the Tennessee Valley are smart, they will never go for any legislation that does away with TVA.”

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.