TVA will announce in the next few days just how high the Oct. 1, Fuel Cost Adjustment (FCA) will be.

TVA said last week electric customers can expect a double-digit percentage increase in their electric bills when the power provider makes its quarterly FCA early this fall.

Each quarter TVA looks at the costs the agency is paying for fuel and purchased power from other electricity providers.

The next increase passed onto to TVA customers will be high.

“It’s because of fuel,” TVA spokesman Gil Francis said. “Coal, natural gas and purchased power have gone up significantly.”

Francis said as prime example of the cost increase, a contract TVA is currently under to buy coal has the price of coal set at $35 per ton.

He said the present market price for coal is now $135 per ton and that’s what TVA will have to pay when the current contract expires.

Francis said the continued dry weather this summer has limited the amount of hydroelectric power the agency can generate, forcing TVA to buy more power from other utilities providers.

When TVA raises its power rates to local providers, they in turn pass those costs onto their customers.

TVA provides power that makes its way to nearly 9 million customers in 7 Southeastern states.

tommy.millsaps@advocateanddemocrat.com  | 337-7101