THE FINANCING OF TVA ARNOLD R. JoNEs* INTRODUCTION The Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) investment in power, flood control, navigation, chemical, and other fixed assets exceeds two and a half billion dollars. Capital expenditures are expected to reach $i6o million in the current fiscal year -i 9 6i-and will probably exceed $200 million next year. Capital expenditures of about the same range are expected during each year for the foreseeable future. Power revenue in fiscal 196o was $242 million; fertilizer revenue was $17 million. Expendi- tures for operation and maintenance of all programs were $i7o million last year but will increase steadily as the power system and other activities grow. These figures offer a glimpse of the size of TVA's financing responsibility. Large as the expenditures are, they are dwarfed by those of many government agencies. It is not, however, the size of TVA's expenditures that is of most interest. The interest in TVA's financing centers on its methods and policies; for a government agency, they have been unique. TVA now has three sources of funds: (i) appropri- ations, (2) revenues, and (3) electric power bonds. Each source will be discussed in this paper. The fact that TVA may use its revenues and bond proceeds without an- nual appropriation by Congress is of great importance in the stability of its self- financed activities. It is the purpose of this article to review these methods and policies, past and future, identifying the important ways in which they are unique and have contributed to effective management. I SCOPE OF OPFAATIONS I. General Congress granted to the TVA a considerable measure of the administrative free- dom and flexibility customarily found among private corporations. TVA is a federal corporation created.,by the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933.' Its three- member Board of Directors is appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate.2 It is an independent agency in that its Board is responsible directly to the President and Congress, and not to one of the traditional departmentsO Within 0 B.S. in Business 1927, University of Kansas; Certified Public Accountant. Assistant Budget Director and State Accountant, State of Kansas, 1933-37; Dean, Financial Administration, Kansas State University, 1945-56; Deputy Director, U.S. Bureau of the Budget, 1956-57. Member, Board of Directors, Tennessee Valley Authority. The manuscript of this article was completed in April 1961. 1 48 Stat. 58 (1933), 16 U.S.C. S 83i (1958). 2 48 Stat. 59 0933), 16 U.S.C. § 831a "(x958). 8 48 Stat. 63 (1933), 16 U.S.C. § 831h (1958). LAw AND CoNEMpOmRY PROBLEMS broad limits, the Board of Directors determines the financial policies for TVA's programs, including the establishment of the prices at which power and fertilizer are sold. Yet this freedom is not unlimited. The TVA Act states, for example, that while electric rates shall be as low as feasible, the power program must be self- supporting and self-liquidating.5 Congress has amended the Act from time to time, and on three occasions amended importantly the manner of financing the power program. Financially, TVA's programs and activities fall into two categories. One is power operations. The other includes all nonpower activities-flood control, navigation improvement, fertilizer and munitions development, agriculture, forestry, and other resource development programs.6 Power has used appropriations only for capital additions; all operating expenses of this program (and part of its capital require- ments) have been financed from revenues. Although some of the nonpower activi- ties produce revenue, none is expected to be self-supporting. As with similar services provided by the Government all over the nation, both the current expenses and the capital additions of TVA's nonpower activities are supported by appropriations. 2. Fertilizer and Agriculture Research Substantial income is obtained from the sale of fertilizer and chemical products and is used to meet part of the operating expenses. Appropriations are necessary, however, to pay for plant construction costs and a part of the operating costs. TVA does not operate as a commercial fertilizer supplier; its activities in this field are concerned with research, development, testing, and education in order to carry out two main peacetime objectives: (i) development of new and improved fertilizers and of processes for their manufacture, and (2) testing and demonstrating the value and best methods of using modern fertilizers as an aid to soil and water conservation and increased efficiency of farm operations.7 Amounts of fertilizer produced, al- though substantial, are limited to the quantities needed to carry out the educational programs and represent less than two per cent of national tonnage. Output in 1960 was about 250,000 tons. TVA prices its fertilizers and fertilizer materials in such a way as to promote development objectives rather than to produce maximum revenues. Prices are set sufficiently below the price of commercial fertilizers to encourage farmers, retail dealers, agricultural college personnel, and fertilizer manufacturers and wholesale distributors throughout the country to try new products and take part in special educational programs. Most of the fertilizers are used in the distributor-demonstra- tion program, where a limited price differential is provided. 'E.g., 48 Stat. 61, 64 (I933), 16 U.S.C. S 83xd, i (958). 49 Stat. 1076 (935), I6 U.S.C. § 8 xh-x (I958). 648 Stat. 62 (1933), 16 U.S.C. § 83Id(l)3 (1958) (power operations); 48 Stat. 61 (1933), 16 U.S.C. S 831d(a-f) (1958) (fertilizers); 48 Stat. 61 (1933), x6 U.S.C. S 83id(g, h) (1958) (munitions); 48 Stat. 69 (r933), 16 U.S.C. § 831u, v (958) (conservation and resource development); 49 Stat. x076 (1935), 16 U.S.C. § 83 1h-i (1958) (flood control and navigation). 1 48 Stat. 61 (1933), 16 U.S.C. S 83id(a-f) (1958). THE FINANCING OF TVA 727 A much smaller amount is utilized in the farm test-demonstration program, which is more intensive, more closely supervised by agricultural college personnel, and more intensively employed as an educational tool. All test-demonstration farmers pay freight and local handling charges as well as part of the cost of the fertilizer. The end price varies with the experimental nature of the fertilizer, the types of crops on which it is to be used, and other factors. It may vary from very little to a considerable part of the cost of the fertilizer. The objective of the pricing arrange- ment is to give the farmer an incentive to try experimental fertilizers, to demonstrate their use in fertilization programs recommended by the colleges, to keep complete records, and to make farms available for visits and tours. Sale of fertilizers and by-products in the fiscal year I96o totaled $i6,712,ooo. After production and distribution expenses, research on products and processes, and costs of fertilizer testing and demonstrations and agricultural development activities, the net expense of the program was $4,864,ooo, of which $I,024,ooo repre- sents provision for depreciation and depletion. 3. Navigation and Flood Control Navigation and flood control services produce no revenues for TVA. In ac- cordance with present national policy on all inland waterways, use of the Tennessee channel by all craft, commercial and recreational, is free. The net expense to TVA in the fiscal year i96o of navigation operations, including $i,666,ooo in depreciation charges, was $3,313,000. In addition, the Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, which operates the locks and maintains the main channel, and the U.S. Coast Guard, which installs and maintains buoys and other navigation aids, expended about $965,ooo and $317,ooo, respectively. Reductions in shippers' costs due to the existence of the waterway are now about $25,700,000 annually. TVA's flood control expenses, including $1,235,oo in depreciation, amounted to $2,932,000 in fiscal 196o. In the same year an estimated $4,500,000 in damages on the lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers was avoided. Through the entire period of TVA flood control operations, beginning in 1936 with completion of Norris Dam, the cumulative operation costs totaled $434 million while the cumulative benefits in damage averted-only one of the measures of floor control benefits-amounted to about $i45 million. 4. The Electric Power Program For its power program, the Act requires TVA to follow the system of accounting prescribed by the Federal Power Commission (FPC).s Keeping in mind the dif- ferences between a public agency and a privately owned corporation, TVA's power accounts may be compared with those of any electric system which follows FPC procedures. There is no accounting procedure prescribed by law for nonpower activities; procedures are patterned after generally accepted business practice. The usual and accepted distinctions are made between capital expenditures and operating 8 49 Stat. 1077 (1935), x6 U.S.C. § 831m (1958). 728 LAW AND CONTEMPOPRY PROBLEMS expenses. Depreciation is recorded for depreciable assets and is charged to the activities which use the asset. Administrative and other overhead costs also are allocated to the several programs after exhaustive "direction of effort" studies. Annual budget estimates and financial statements are reported by activity, and include on an accrual basis all TVA costs. In administering the policy of marketing TVA power at the lowest feasible rates, the TVA Board established low wholesale rates for its own power sales and contracted with some 153 municipal and cooperative electric systems to distribute the power at low retail rates. These low rates influence TVA financing directly and importantly. Electricity is universally recognized as a superior form of energy; encouraged by low rates, its use has grown rapidly in the TVA area.