TVA IRP Act

This bill, known as the TVA Increase Rate of Participation Act, aims to significantly enhance the transparency and public engagement of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). It establishes an Office of Public Participation within the TVA, tasked with direct outreach and education to foster a greater understanding of TVA processes. This office will serve as a liaison, providing ongoing information and coordinating with other TVA offices to improve processes based on public input, ensuring they are inclusive, fair, and easy to navigate. The legislation mandates a robust public engagement process for TVA's integrated resource planning (IRP), requiring opportunities for intervention, discovery, comments, testimony, and evidentiary hearings. The TVA Board must oversee this process and ensure IRPs include comprehensive long-term forecasts, transmission investments, and diverse resource portfolios. Additionally, the bill requires the public release of modeling assumptions 100 days prior to a draft plan and amends existing law to include resilience, extreme weather risk, and public health impacts in TVA's least-cost planning considerations.