Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) chief operating officer
Joe Dickey is displeased with a General Accounting Office (GAO) report advocating a 10-percent rate hike for TVA. Dickey says that TVA has held rates steady for eight straight years and plans to hold them stable for at least another two. He notes that the report focuses on the past and suggests privatizing TVA as an option. Dickey adds that the GAO criticizes TVA cost,s but ignores that TVA has cut its workforce by half since 1988 and its costs by $800 million. TVA chief financial officer David Smith agrees with Dickey and says that the GAO's financial analysis is flawed because it implies that TVA's debt puts the federal government at risk: "In reality, 88 percent of our debt is held by private investors, we pay a market rate of
interest, and we meet our bond tests every year."
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