TVA to trim 1,000 jobs and delay some capital projects

With a net loss for the second quarter and a projected loss for the fiscal year, TVA officials said the utility’s “diet and exercise plan” involves trimming about 1,000 jobs and delaying some capital projects — including work to complete Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant.

The 1,000 eliminated positions will include about 700 TVA workers and 300 contractors, according to an announcement made to employees after TVA filed its earnings statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday morning.

“TVA is achieving about $100 million in labor savings as we work to reduce costs to meet the challenges of the lower revenues we are currently experiencing. This will help us to maintain financial health in the near term, while improving competitiveness over the longer term,” said Janet Herrin, executive vice president and chief administrative officer.

The federal utility reported a net loss for the first half of fiscal 2013 of $267 million on sales of less than $5.2 billion. In the same period a year ago, the Tennessee Valley Authority, a wholesale electricity maker that serves seven states, earned $205 million on sales of nearly $5.8 billion.

TVA’s Financial Operating Manager John Thomas blamed the weather and a sluggish economy. But he acknowledged that challenges for coming months also include increased spending to complete the delayed Watts Bar 2 nuclear reactor and coal contract obligations that continue despite coal plant reductions and the costs of bringing Browns Ferry Nuclear plant into safety compliance with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Read more in tomorrow’s Times Free Press.