The Tennessee Valley Authority has approved a $10.37 billion budget for fiscal year 2017.
President and CEO Bill Johnson has made diversifying TVA's energy generation fleet a priority. According to a news release from the utility, at its quarterly board meeting on Thursday, Johnson highlighted completion of a Watts Bar Nuclear Plant reactor near Spring City and construction of natural gas units in Paradise, Kentucky, and Memphis.
Johnson said TVA is "working to adapt to new business conditions that include reduced energy needs and increased demand for energy efficiencies and renewables."
Renewable energy accounted for 13 percent of the electricity TVA generated or bought in 2015.
The budget contains a 1.5 percent retail rate increase. For a customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month, that amounts to about an extra $1.50.
