MLGW leaving TVA isn’t right decision for Memphis
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) represents approximately 1,500 employees who work at Memphis Light, Gas, & Water (MLGW), and several thousand employees at TVA.
As the International Vice President of the IBEW 10th District, I speak on behalf of these proud citizens of Memphis and Shelby County employed by MLGW and TVA in stating that MLGW leaving TVA is not in the best interest of Memphis or Memphians.
Potential disruptions and costs are factors that must be considered when choosing a provider. There has been a lot of speculation on projected savings by individuals with personal interests.
But there our facts that cannot be challenged. TVA has provided affordable and reliable service to MLGW and the people of Memphis for decades. TVA has a 100% reliability record in delivering electric power to MLGW for the past 20 years, while keeping its energy costs some of the lowest in the nation.
Today, 70% of consumers nationwide pay higher electric rates than those at TVA. These rates have been stable the last six years and are projected to remain flat for the next decade. With its partnership with TVA, MLGW provides the third lowest energy rates in the nation among its peers.
The recent draft integrated resource plan (IRP) prepared by Siemens, makes a number of assumptions that MLGW may save money by leaving TVA.
The IRP makes it clear, however, that the hypothetical savings are dependent on the construction by MLGW of power plants and transmission lines. According to Siemens, these projects will cost billions of dollars. Any negative issues associated with the construction, and eventual running and maintaining, of those assets will erase the savings.
It will be years from now before we know if the hypothetical projections regarding the savings were accurate. If it turns out that the projections were inaccurate and the savings do not materialize, it will be too late for MLGW and Memphians.
The IRP fails to fully account for the real investments that TVA has made and will continue to make in Memphis. Currently TVA invests $71 million a year in the Memphis community.
Over the past eight years, TVA has partnered with MLGW and the local community to attract more than 40,000 jobs and $5.4 billion of investment. These are real investments, savings and jobs.
In 1997, I was employed as a Journeyman Lineman at MLGW, I also served as President of IBEW Local 1288. Without warning, a group of influential Memphians and outside interests proposed the sale of MLGW to a private utility. For over six months, the IBEW was on the frontline defending MLGW and the people of Memphis and TVA was by our side.
The spectacle proved to everyone that the idea was based on speculative returns, not facts. Furthermore, it proved that the partnership between TVA and MLGW provided solid value to Memphis. More than 20 years later, the idea of leaving TVA for hypothetical greener pastures is deja-vu.
I worked for MLGW for 18 years and its success is still near and dear to me. It is not just business to me, it is personal. It is my personal wish for MLGW to continue its tradition of service to the community and TVA is part of that mission.
Consider the real risks and unnecessary expense leaving the TVA system will bring to MLGW and Memphians. In these troubling times, a reliable partner is priceless.
TVA has a proven track record of being a partner you can count on through thick and thin, and TVA has proven to Memphis that it is here for the long haul.
Brent E. Hall was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. He served as President of IBEW Local 1288, representing employees at MLGW.