After years of effort, congressional Republicans have passed a massive tax plan that cleared Congress last month and was signed into law by President Trump. In the midst of this titanic debate, lawmakers mulled the idea of taxing the interest paid to holders of municipal bonds. Because of a huge amount of work by stakeholders - including public power utilities - the tax exemption for municipal bonds remained intact in the tax reform bill. Public power infrastructure financing did not emerge entirely unscathed. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would prohibit the issuance of tax-exempt advance refunding bonds, although states, tribes, and localities could continue to issue tax-exempt current refunding bonds.

With temperatures across the Tennessee Valley below freezing for all but eight hours in the first six days of 2018, the Tennessee Valley Authority supplied over 600 gigawatt-hours of energy every day last week since New Year's Day — the second longest streak for such a volume of sales in the 85-year history of TVA. The only time TVA has had a longer period of such high power use came in January 2010 when a prolonged cold spell kept electricity consumption above the 600 gigawatt-hour level for 10 straight days.

Roughly 1,500 more utility workers from the mainland United States – including lineworkers and others from public power utilities and investor-owned utilities – are deploying to Puerto Rico early in the new year and will be in place later this month to help the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, restore electric service.

The Tennessee Valley Authority shut down its oldest fossil plant still in operation this week as part of the utility's ongoing shift away from coal-fired generation that should reduce the share of power TVA gets from burning coal by next year to only a third of what it provided a generation ago. On New Year's Eve, Richard "Mac" Flowers, a 91-year-old TVA retiree, opened the breaker at the Johnsonville Fossil plant to shut down the coal plant after 66 years of operation. The shutdown of the last unit at the 10-unit Johnsonville plant brought to 30 the number of coal units TVA has retired in the past five years at a half dozen fossil plants in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Dec. 18 took a first step toward potentially replacing the Clean Air Act section 111(d) rule, known as the Clean Power Plan, to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing fossil-fuel generating units. The EPA released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, or ANPR, asking the public for comment on what a replacement rule for the section 111(d) rule should include.

President Donald Trump spoke to nearly 5,000 people at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center on Monday, January 8. He was the first president in a quarter century to speak to the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual conference since President George H.W. Bush in 1992. Here are five key takeways from his speech:

Electric utilities earned record high levels of satisfaction among business customers in 2017, J.D. Power recently reported in its 2017 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study. In Tennessee, Nashville Electric Service and Memphis Light, Gas and Water were recognized for high marks in business customer satisfaction, while last summer EPB of Chattanooga was recognized for high marks for residential customer satisfaction.

How would you like to honor a special segment of your customer base while reminding the public of the important role your utility plays in the community? We are weeks away from such an opportunity. March 29 - April 5 is National Small Business Week. Since 1963, the president of the U.S. has issued a proclamation to recognize the contributions of the small businesses who are this country’s economic backbone. The Small Business Administration defines small businesses as those with fewer than 500 employees. They constitute 99.7 percent of all firms. Whether they are home-based or occupying main street buildings, your system likely has a high number of these businesses.

Steve Chappell welcomes the new year and helps us with some words of encouragement as we try to keep our New Years resolutions.

More than 40 million people in the United States - 12.7 percent - live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s report, 2016 Income and Poverty in the United States. Living beneath the poverty line means a two-parent family with two children earns less than $16,543 a year. That means many U.S. families are often faced with choosing which necessities to pay for at any given time: food, medications or electricity. Low-income customers simply cannot afford to take advantage of opportunities to save on their electric bill by purchasing more-efficient appliances or making improvements to their homes.

Have an important meeting or event coming to your town? Let us know and we'll put it on the TMEPA Calendar. Stay up to date with all the TMEPA meetings and other events around the state and even nationally for TMEPA Member Systems.

The legislature was gaveled in at noon on January 9. Since it’s the second year of the 110th General Assembly, legislators are expected to get right to work with committee meetings scheduled for this week. Not many bills have been filed, but some main issues for the session are coming to the fore. With some new senators and representatives, and a new building, there are some big changes as legislators return to Nashville to begin work.

With the legislature gaveled into session this month, it has continued to be an active time for legislators announcing retirements and for new candidates to come forward for offices on the 2018 ballot. Let's update our monthly tally of the newest developments in Tennessee politics, setting up next year to be one of the most active election seasons in the state's history.

TMEPA Annual Rally & Reception will be held on February 13th, at the Hermitage Hotel. This is the day for Tennessee's municipal power companies to visit the General Assembly and talk with legislators about issues and legislation affecting their utilities. There are several bills that will affect how municipal electric utilities do business, so it will be important to make sure you have this event on your calendar.

At the Legislative Rally in February, the American Public Power Association will share the resources and connections to help public power communities make their voices heard in Washington, D.C. As an advocate for public power, you are in the best position to talk to Congress about the direct impact of federal action at the local level. You represent your local community as well as 49 million other Americans served by public power.

The national political landscape of an election takes shape long before any votes are cast, and judging by who is not running in 2018, the year is not shaping up well for the GOP. This week, three more Republicans announced they would not seek reelection in the House of Representatives, bringing the number to 30 so far. That’s the highest number of retirements for a party in power for decades, surpassing the numbers in the wave election years of 2010, 2006 and 1994.

It was almost 73 years ago that the East Tennessee Light and Power Company became Bristol Tennessee Electric System. Today, BTES serves more than 33,000 electric customers and more than 17,000 fiber customers with only 68 employees. In November 2017, BTES was notified that it received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a Presidential-level honor that recognizes exemplary practices among American organizations and businesses including an unceasing drive for radical innovation, thoughtful leadership, and administrative improvement. "We are proud of the accolades we have received over the years, but we are most proud of the confidence and support our customers have shown us through 70 years of change."

TMEPA's Spring Engineering and Operations Conference has just been announced. It will be held April 5 and 6 at the Holiday Inn Worlds Fair Park in Knoxville, TN. The conference provides information on topics utilities are facing today, and it allows for engineers and operations staff to network and hear how their peers deal with similar issues. The program for the two-day meeting is being finalized. Watch for Registration and Sponsor Exhibitor information coming soon!

Municipal Tennessee Advisory Service (MTAS) will be providing Utility Board Member Training at Cleveland Utilities' Tom Wheeler Training Center located in Cleveland, TN. The trainings are noon-4 p.m. on January 19, February 2, and March 9. The cost is $85.00 per day. Click the link below for more details. This training can be used for the state-mandated training for water utility board members.

The Tennessee Job Training & Safety Training program is a joint venture between the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Murfreesboro (TCATM), Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association (TECA), and the Tennessee Municipal Electric Power Association (TMEPA). The program provides job training and training and support in health and safety issues for both municipal and cooperative utilities throughout the state of Tennessee. We are based at the TCAT Murfreesboro campus. JT&S is based at the TCAT Murfreesboro campus.

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Infrastructure Protection offers a wide array of free training programs to government and private sector partners. These web-based independent study courses, instructor-led courses, and associated training materials provide government officials and critical infrastructure owners and operators with the knowledge and skills needed to implement critical infrastructure security and resilience activities.

The Harriman Utility Board, located in Harriman, TN, a municipal provider of Electric, Natural Gas, Water, and Wastewater Services is seeking candidates for the position of General Manager to replace the current GM, who is retiring in May 2018.

The position of General Manager will entail exceptional management and leadership of a small municipally owned multi-service public utility system, including water, wastewater and electricity services. Applicants should have a minimum of a four-year degree in engineering, business, or a related field from an accredited university and five years of experience in progressively responsible positions, Senior Management level experience a plus.

Newport Utilities is actively seeking a motivated and dynamic Broadband Department Manager. This position will oversee start-up operations for CATV, Internet and telephone on FTTx infrastructure and includes keeping current on product knowledge; responding to customer inquiries and the establishment of day-to-day tactical planning for outside plant and back office operations; controlling and planning daily work activities of outside plant technicians; maintaining a safe and orderly workflow for technician’s daily assignments; and coordinating subscriber work orders and service calls.

ENGINEER - Weakley County Municipal Electric System is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Engineer. This position requires, as a minimum, a bachelor's degree in engineering from an accredited university, and five years’ experience in power system engineering.

Industry veteran Scott Dahlstrom will be Columbia Power & Water Systems’ new executive director, effective Feb. 1, the Columbia Board of Public Utilities told The Daily Herald on Tuesday. Dahlstrom comes to CPWS from Trenton Light & Water in West Tennessee where he has served as general manager since 2013.

The Etowah Utilities Board will soon be looking for a new general manager. John Goins announced his intent to retire from the position during a called meeting Thursday night. "I did give my notice," Goins said, noting that he turned it in to EUB Chairman Burke Garwood on Dec. 20. Goins said he doesn't have a definite date of departure from EUB but expects it to be toward the end of March. Goins was originally named the general manager of Etowah Utilities in July 2013 and has been with EUB for almost 30 years.

Lenoir City Utilities Board by the end of the month will become fully operational in its new facility off Creekwood Park Boulevard. LCUB General Manager Shannon Littleton said most of administration has made the move to the new location, while customer service and crews in gas, water, sewer and electric will relocate within two or three weeks.

Bristol Tennessee Essential Services is free to serve the new Sullivan County high school with electricity, according to an agreement disclosed on Thursday. That agreement was with Kingsport Power — doing business as AEP Appalachian Power — which had claimed the new high school was in its service area.

The Memphis City Council might have voted against two MLGW rate increase proposals but that doesn't mean it's off the table. MLGW's president says the increases would have gone towards substation updates and would help reduce the number of outages during a storm. However, the MLGW budget has not been officially voted on.

Nashville is set to embark on its first community solar project following the Metro Council's approval of a lease agreement between the city and Nashville Electric Service. The solar array, called Music City Solar, will be installed in Madison in a brownfield on top of what was a city landfill. Once complete, Music City Solar will generate 2.8 million kilowatt hours per year, which is enough to meet the energy needs for about 210 households annually. The project is a public-private partnership featuring Metro, NES, the Tennessee Valley Authority, HCA, Regions Bank, Pinnacle Bank and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.