TVA reports quarterly loss of $48 million

The Tennessee Valley Authority said today it lost $48 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

In its quarterly earnings report, TVA blamed the loss on unseasonably cold temperatures in December, which pushed up fuel costs, and a drop in TVA’s own hydroelectric and nuclear generation, which pushed up the amount of power TVA buys from other utilities by 31 percent.

TVA said the drop in rainfall during 2010 cut power generation from TVA’s hydroelectric dams by 45 percent and two unexpected outages of nuclear reactors reduced nuclear output during the winter cold.

TVA sold 20 percent more electricity than it did in the same period a year ago. But the utility said it had to spend $1 billion on fuel and purchased power in the most recent quarter, up from $608 million a year earlier.

In the same quarter a year ago, TVA reported net income of $150 million.

TVA Chief Financial Officer John Thomas said the federal utility expects to be back in the black during the remainder of its fiscal 2011 year.

“As sales increase during the winter and summer months, we will return to a positive net income, to be reinvested in the power system,” he said.