Roger Carpenter, customer service manager of TVA's southeast district, explained the changes. TVA voted Aug. 27 to change the rates, Carpenter told the City Council during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night.
A cost survey that was done this year determined that rates needed adjusting,” Carpenter said. “A rate increase was needed for clean air expenditures."
Residential rates will go up 14 percent, while commercial rates will go down 12.9 percent and industrial rates will go down 12.4 percent.
"Manufacturing jobs have declined by 10 percent in the last 10 years and have declined 8 percent in the last two years," Carpenter said. "The (Tennessee) Valley lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs between the end of 2000 and the end of 2002. Manufacturing accounts for 22 percent of the non-farm employment in the valley and the United States average is about 14 percent."
Carpenter said that without competitive electric rates for manufacturers, the region will lose quality jobs, he said.
TVA is also proposing power bill credits for industries that locate, expand or add jobs in the Tennessee Valley area.
"At the same time that TVA is proposing the revenue-neutral change in the rate structure, we are proposing the rate adjustment to increase revenues by $365 million," Carpenter said. "Chickamauga's current rate for 1,000 kilowatts of power is $64.86 per household and the new rate will be $68.68, which will be about a $4 difference."
Chickamauga City Manager John Culpepper says that of the 54 TVA rates in Georgia, Chickamauga is the second lowest rate, with Dalton’s as the lowest.
"We are still the second lowest in the state," Culpepper said. "LaFayette has a rate of $76.02, Calhoun's rate is $78.98, Marietta's rate is $82.52 and Acworth's rate is $87.28. So TVA has been really good to Chickamauga.
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