Appalachian Voices releases platform for ‘Ensuring an Affordable, Transparent and Accountable Tennessee Valley Authority’
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 9, 2026
CONTACT
Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (276) 289-1018, dan@appvoices.org
TENNESSEE VALLEY – Today, Appalachian Voices unveiled our “Ensuring an Affordable, Transparent, and Accountable Tennessee Valley Authority” policy platform. It is intended to provide regional and federal leaders and lawmakers with a policy framework to ensure the nation’s largest federally owned utility and regional economic driver can continue to provide affordable, safe, and reliable electricity while building trust with the people it serves.
Appalachian Voices crafted the platform based on its work with community organizations, local utilities, ratepayers and other stakeholders throughout the Tennessee Valley, reflecting feedback from more than a decade of work with directly impacted people.
The release of the platform comes as the TVA board prepares for its first listening session and meeting with a full quorum since early 2024, and after the TVA’s 2025 integrated resource plan has been stalled for nearly a year because its governing board lost quorum. The integrated resource plan, or IRP, is a comprehensive energy plan guiding the agency’s infrastructure roadmap for the next 25 years. In early 2025, the board regained a quorum after the Senate confirmed four new board members nominated by President Donald Trump to replace the members he’d fired the year before.
While TVA generally boasts lower electricity rates for residents of the Valley compared to other nearby utilities, the utility has increased rates for customers twice since 2023. TVA’s costly methane gas buildout (one of the largest in the nation) and pressure to shift toward expensive nuclear energy put these lower energy prices at risk.
As the national conversation continues to focus on affordability and a federal government that works for the American people, the TVA platform gives leaders the opportunity to address the public trust and accountability problems at TVA by enacting solutions that increase transparency and accountability while ensuring affordable energy prices.
“We urge all lawmakers to adopt and pursue the policies outlined in this platform to strengthen TVA’s public power model through increased transparency and accountability, and ensure that TVA is a leader on affordable energy,” said Director of Public Power Campaigns Bri Knisely. “The people of the Tennessee Valley deserve a utility that works with and for them, guided by honest leaders with genuine expertise.”
