Knoxville, TN – The Tennessee Valley Authority says the late April storms are going to hit ratepayers in July, with fuel costs adding up to $6 to monthly residential bills.
A TVA statement Monday said the 4.5 percent increase in the average wholesale price is mainly due to the storms. Damage to TVA's transmission system caused all three reactors at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in North Alabama to be offline for much of May, and the replacement power cost was almost $90 million.
Favorable hydro generation helped offset some cost.
TVA previously said the storms were costing the utility up to $200 million to replace lost power generation and to repair damaged transmission lines.
TVA supplies power to about 9 million people in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)