Efforts to scrap TVA for parts and sell to private industry for pennies on the dollar are not new. Even before TVA existed, the dam and munitions plant at Muscle Shoals was the subject of the same debate after WWI; the fight by George Norris to keep that from happening is part of the reason Norris Dam bears his name.
In 1933, the South, and the Valley in particular, were essentially the Third world. Malaria was endemic, and only one percent of rural farms had electricity. Rural areas were too sparsely populated and poor for private electric companies to waste their time. Floods of the Tennessee were so common and severe that the whole city of Chattanooga was raised an entire story in the 1890s.
The flood control and electricity that TVA brought the Valley raised the per capita income 17x by the 1970s. Electric stoves, lighting, every modern convenience we take for granted was made possible by rural electrification. Refrigeration in particular was critical in reducing food spoilage and food-borne illnesses in the area.
Shortly after its creation, TVA powered WWII. In addition to feeding "conventional" war manufacturing of aluminum, bombers, and munitions, TVA dams and coal plants fed the power-hungry Y-12 site at Oak Ridge, enriching enough uranium to put a swift end to the Pacific war. The TVA is an All-American institution.
Even now, despite misleading talk of waste (find me any large company that is 100 percent efficient. I’ll wait) our electric rates are lower than 70 percent of the country, and also among the most reliable. TVA has used rolling blackouts once in 90 years, and spent $130 million to make sure it never happens again. Compare to PG&E in California, where blackouts are a yearly occurrence in summer, or to ERCOT in Texas, which has had several well-publicized issues during winter storms.
That is the difference between TVA and other power companies: TVA is responsible to the ratepayer, but private utilities are responsible to shareholders. Shareholder profit is passed on from the ratepayers, via deferred maintenance when needed.
If TVA is stripped and sold for parts, our rates will go up: the ratepayers are one of the assets being sold! Reliability will go down: maintenance expenses look bad on quarterly balance sheets. Worst of all, we would be dismantling the organization that built the Valley as it exists today.
TVA was built for the people, not the shareholders. Let’s keep it that way.