EPB joins plant-buying cooperative
By Jason M. Reynolds
Staff Writer
EPB is joining other Southeastern utilities in forming a cooperative that could buy a power plant by the end of the year, officials said Friday.
"TVA's assets are owned not by the ratepayers but by the federal government," said Harold DePriest, president and chief executive officer of EPB. "It's disconcerting that the facilities we've paid for over the years don't belong to us."
EPB's board of directors on Friday authorized Mr. DePriest to join a co-op that regional utilities are forming with the Tennessee Valley Authority to purchase power plants. EPB's initial cost will be $22,000 to help establish the co-op. Proponents say the co-op will establish more local control of power production assets.
The co-op is being formed through the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association, a trade organization of 158 power distributors in the region. The purchasing co-op could be incorporated by mid- to late-summer, said Phillip Burgess, communications director of TVPPA.
The co-op could buy a power plant by late fall or the end of the year, he said. The directors of each utility belonging to the co-op would have to decide whether to invest in an individual power plant that the co-op buys, Mr. DePriest said.
"If TVA were to be sold or privatized, its assets would revert back to the federal treasury," Mr. Burgess said. If the co-op owned some power plants, "some of the assets would remain in the valley and be owned by the consumers who have paid for them."
Also, the co-op will allow TVA to increase its generation capacity at a minimum debt level while establishing long-term contracts with its customers, Mr. DePriest said.
TVA doesn't have the ability to build plants to keep up with growing electric demand in the valley, he said, and TVA must buy power from other parts of the country during some high-demand times like the summer.
TVA will be a co-owner of the power plants the co-op buys, Mr. Burgess and Mr. DePriest said, and the co-op will contract with the federal utility to manage the plants.
First, the co-op's organizational structure must be formed, Mr. Burgess said, and seed money collected. Individual utilities are being asked to contribute the equivalent of one year's membership dues to TVPPA.
Mr. DePriest told EPB's board Friday that by joining now as a charter member, the utility would be involved in writing the organization's bylaws.
Power co-ops aren't new, Mr. DePriest said, noting that such arrangements have existed in Georgia for at least 20 years.
"It's like the difference in buying a house versus renting," he said.
E-mail Jason M. Reynolds at jreynolds@timesfreepress.com