ABSTRACT
Through various surveys, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has found, not surprisingly, that relatively poor consumers in its service territory spend a larger percentage of their income on electricity than relatively wealthy consumers. This fact has apparently led TVA to pursue a subsidized conservation program, a major rate structure change, and various other ideas to alleviate the burden of rising electricity prices on the poor. In my evaluation of these initiatives, I will comment not only on their effect, but also their equity and economic efficiency which should, in principle, be the same for investor-owned utilities as well as TVA. 1
