Another poll shows support to leave TVA for cheaper supply
Report says only 20% opposing it
Polls continue to show support among Memphians for leaving the Tennessee Valley Authority for a cheaper power supply.
Those polls continue to be produced by entities advocating for Memphis, Light, Gas and Water to leave TVA.
Friends of the Earth, a national renewable energy advocacy group, shared the results of a poll conducted in early February that showed Mempians would be largely supportive of leaving TVA if there's a lower-cost provider available.
“Our research found Memphis residents supported leaving TVA for a lower-cost power provider at a ratio of more than two-to-one, 57 percent supported leaving TVA, and only 20 percent opposed leaving TVA. Currently, 60 percent of Memphians oppose a rate hike by MLGW.
If Memphis were to leave the TVA, 75 percent of Memphians responded they ‘would prefer a lower-cost, cleaner and greener power option,'” Friends of the Earth said in a letter to MLGW leadership, the Memphis City Council and Mayor Jim Strickland.
The letter also told the elected officials that they could stand a better chance of re-election if they lowered utility rates by leaving TVA for a lowercost provider.
The poll follows one, released in January, commissioned by representatives of another group, Nuclear Development, that has long advocated for Memphis to leave TVA.
The polls and the public relations campaigns surrounding them show how Memphis' landmark decision about whether to leave TVA has attracted serious attention in the private sector.
TVA, for its part, pushed back on the poll.
“These unscientific polls serve to distract from the facts and ignore the Integrated Resource Plan process currently underway with the city and MLGW.
TVA has not seen the poll itself, so we can't comment on the validity of the results,” Scott Brooks, TVA spokesman, said in a statement to The Commercial Appeal.
He added, “However, as with previous polls which claim to show support for leaving TVA, the statements in the news release are not an accurate picture of TVA'S current or future rates.”
MLGW is in the midst of an integrated resource plan, IRP, that is supposed to help inform the city-owned utility's decision about its future power supply.
That study is supposed to be complete in late-april or early May.
Preliminary results of the IRP have shown that there is the possibility of power supply savings if MLGW left TVA, joined a marketplace known as the Midcontinent Independent System Operator and potentially built natural gas and solar power generation. Those results follow several studies provided by the private sector, including Nuclear Development and Friends of the Earth, that also show substantial savings.
MLGW CEO J.T. Young said two weeks ago that it's more likely than not that MLGW will ask the private sector for bids on its power supply — a key step in leaving TVA.
In a December interview with The CA, TVA CEO Jeff Lyash said TVA would not respond to such a request for proposals.
Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He welcomes tips and feedback from the public. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com.