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TVA Fuel Prices Lowest in Four Years, Lowering Wholesale Power Cost

Brent Moore
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Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Tennessee Valley Authority fuel prices are the lowest they’ve been since the agency began recording them four years ago.

TVA Spokesman Scott Brooks says the average wholesale cost per kilowatt hour in November is 7 cents. He added that the fuel price is passed on to consumers and makes up about a third of the wholesale price. For November, Brooks says fuel cost is 1.8 cents out of the 7 cents wholesale price.

“The fuel cost adjustment is a formula that is based on not only the actual usage from the previous month but also the expected usage from the following month,” he said. “We’re expecting sales and demand to be down a little bit in November which means milder weather, and we’re expecting more hydro production which is our cheapest form of generation.”

This drop in electricity price for TVA customers comes as Paducah Power customers face rising rates because of debt related to its stake in an underperforming Prairie State Energy Campus.

Paducah Power System officials made a deal in 2004 to leave TVA due to concerns about aging equipment and perceived savings costs with Prairie State that have not panned out.

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.
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