(October 17, 2011)

"Electric Rate Changes"
Retail electric rates changed in April 2011 from a flat year round rate to a seasonal rate, meaning that rates in the summer and winter seasons will be slightly higher than the fall and spring.  This new structure will have mild impact initially on the retail user but will open the door to new products and greater emphasis on responsibility for individual electricity use.  This change is in conjunction with a wholesale rate change being instigated on all 155 TVA distributors.  TVA believes this action of emphasizing when electricity is used will eventually assist in creating changes in consumer use patterns and thereby lower the expensive peak demand periods during in which TVA generates and purchases power on behalf of the entire TVA valley.

The wholesale rate change by TVA shifted the risk and responsibility upon Distributors to manage their peak demands.  MUS is working hard to control our wholesale power costs in order to mitigate increases to our customers.  MUS was 1 of the first 5 TVA distributors to work with TVA is a Smart Grid project to control our 1 hour demand peak and to provide reductions for TVA periodically.  We are proud to have been selected.

"MUS Awarded a TVA Smart Grid Pilot Project"

In October 2010, MUS received award for a Smart Grid Initiative pilot program in partnership with TVA for the purposes of proving demand response capability and Smart Grid technologies. Our application covered several areas: (1) demand reduction through voltage regulation, (2) demand reduction through internal loads such as water pumping in peak hours, (3) Smart Grid devices such as Smart Thermostats and Smart Load Control Devices for hot water which can temporarily operate to reduce loads for a limited number of hours, and (4) Advanced Metering technology that can provide customers with Time of Use Rates as an incentive to lower their cost by shifting load to Off Peak periods

This is a great day for the citizens of Morristown.  The TVA grant of near $4 Million will allow MUS to install advanced metering at basically no cost to the rate payers.  This Smart Grid technology will reduce our operating costs, lower the wholesale power cost from TVA, improve outage management, and improve our level of services to the customer.  This is first step is securing the future of power delivery for our community.  MUS is currently installing advanced metering infrastructure that can enable a high speed two-way communication path to all customers.  Electric meters will report on a 15 minute basis and provide a method to analyze system performance on an hourly based, and enables Time of Use rate structures as requested by TVA.  This Smart Grid network is non-evasive to the customer; it does not intrude on privacy, nor restricts usage, nor does it determine when and where customers use electricity.  This network will enable new Smart Grid technologies that will be optional for customers who wish MUS to assist in lowering the electric bill.
The City of Morristown is very fortunate to have FiberNET, a fully passive optical network with very high speeds and network reliability.  This optical network is the backbone of how electric services are delivered and monitored in the future.  FiberNET has the speed needed to allow MUS and customers to lower our costs and mitigate future cost increases.