TVA sales up, but still loses money in quarter

Warmer temperatures this spring boosted electricity sales for the Tennessee Valley Authority by 6 percent during the past quarter, but the federal utility continued to lose money in the three months ended June 30.

TVA reported today that it had a $23 million net loss on sales of more than $2.7 billion in the spring quarter. The losses were less than 10 percent as much as a year ago, however, when TVA lost $230 million on sales of about $2.6 billion.

"The hot weather is causing higher power bills for our customers, but lower fuel costs, which make up a component of their bills, have helped to keep rates 4 percent lower this year as compared to last year," TVA Chief Financial Officer John Thomas said in a statement today.

In June, TVA had four straight days of temperature above 100 degrees, which helped boost electricity sales but also increased TVA's operating expenses, Thomas said.

In its quarterly report, TVA said it is beginning to see positive results from a series of cost-saving actions begun in the second quarter of 2012, including reductions in discretionary spending, deferred program spending, productivity enhancements and elimination of management levels and some contractor and consultant services.

But for the first nine months of the current fiscal year, lower sales overall contributed to a net loss of $290 million on sales of nearly $7.9 billion. In the same period a year earlier, TVA lost only $35 million on sales of $8.4 billion.

"To meet our financial challenges, and continue to invest in the reliability of our system, we are reducing operating costs and producing sustainable improvements in efficiency that will move us toward our vision of low-cost, cleaner energy," TVA President Tom Kilgore said.

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