Private-sector utilities provide the bulk of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution in the United States. However, the federal government also owns a share of the nation’s electricity infrastructure.
The government owns the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), as well as four Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) — namely, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA), and Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA). TVA both generates and transmits power, whereas the PMAs mainly transmit power generated by dams owned by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation.
Federal entities account for 7 percent of U.S. power generation, and they own about 14 percent of the nation’s transmission lines.1 Most of the power carried by the PMAs is hydroelectric, but an exception is that BPA buys power from the Columbia Nuclear Generating Station, owned by the state of Washington.2
The PMAs sell most of their power to “preference” customers, mainly government-owned local utilities and rural electric cooperatives (RECs).3 RECs are customer-owned nonprofit companies, which have grown because of their access to PMA power and the receipt of federal subsidies.4 PMA “preference” customers have first rights to buy low-priced federal power.
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