In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
act. Created by congressional charter, the TVA act created a federally owned corporation charged with providing navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development of the Tennessee Valley. This area includes portions of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Today, TVA sells power to 153 individual local power companies, including Hopkinsville Electric System. To supply power to approximately 9 million people, TVA operates 29 hydro-electric dams, 5 coal-fired plants, 17 natural gas plants, 3 nuclear plants, 14 solar energy sites, 1 diesel energy site, and 1 pumped storage facility.
TVA serves as the regulator for HES. All pricing for electric services provided by HES must be approved by TVA. In addition, TVA prescribes many of the business practices that must be followed by HES. TVA has a number of business and residential energy efficiency programs that HES is able to offer to its customers to help them lower their electricity usage.