Tag: Jeff Lyash

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New Law Would Make Public Some of TVA’s Biggest Salaries

TVA president and CEO Jeff Lyash. (Credit: Toby Sells)

A bipartisan bill filed Tuesday would require the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to make salary information public for employees who make some of its largest paychecks.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) and U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) introduced the measure that would make public salaries for TVA employees who make more than $109,908, or the maximum basic pay rate for many of the federal government’s top-level positions. 

Lyash refused to give salary specifics last month in a hearing before a House committee. In it, Cohen said he has requested that salary information in the past and never received it. He wanted to know why. 

Lyash said part of the TVA Act once required those salaries be listed in a report to Congress and the White House. However, that requirement was changed with a 1995 federal law and TVA was asked to stop filing the report. Now, Lyash said his agency is only required to give detailed salary information to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

“That’s not the people that created the TVA,” Cohen said. “That’s not what the TVA Act requires, and that’s just not right, Jeff. It’s not right. You’re part of the government. You’re created by the United States government. You’re part of it. 

“Salary should be transparent. And when people are making over $1 billion, the public ought to know who they are and what they’re doing.”

With that, Cohen’s speaking time in the hearing had expired. However, his line of comment was picked up by U.S. Rep. Garrett Graves (R-South Louisiana). 

“Your position is unsustainable, if you’re not going to give him the information he’s asking for” Graves said to Lyash. “You’re a government entity. You need to provide him the information. 

“Just to give you a little counsel there, I’d strongly urge you to do it. Otherwise, you’re going to be compelled to do it and you can either cooperate or it’s going get a little ugly. I’d urge you to comply with his request.”

Burchett struck an optimistic note in a news release about the new TVA bill.

 “I have seen the TVA improve its transparency in recent years, and I want to make sure that continues,” Burchett said in a news release. “This bill will help Congress keep TVA accountable for how it pays its employees, which is an important part of preserving its public trust.” 

The new bill is not the first time the two Tennessee lawmakers worked together on pay at TVA. Last year, they introduced another bill that would likely lower the pay of TVA’s CEO, Jeff Lyash. The bill would have reduced his pay to a level comparable with those of CEOs at other public utilities.

Lyash is the highest-paid federal employee, making up to nearly $10 million annually after benefits and bonuses. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump called Lyash’s pay “ridiculous” and threatened (but failed) to cut that pay “by a lot.”

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Cohen Bill Would Likely Lower TVA CEO Salary

TVA president and CEO Jeff Lyash. (Credit: Toby Sells)

A new bill would likely lower the pay for Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) CEO, bringing the controversial salary down to a level comparable with those of CEOs at other public utilities. 

TVA CEO Jeff Lyash made $9.9 million last year. His base salary of $1.1 million was upped from a series of bonuses after he helped the federal utility meet or exceed some long-term and short-term corporate goals. His salary makes Lyash the highest-paid federal employee, far outpacing even the U.S. President’s pay of $400,000.

TVA has long defended its pay. For one, it says, salaries are not paid with taxpayer dollars but with revenue from electricity sales. Also, TVA has said pay, especially for its CEO, must be high to recruit and retain leaders who could make such salaries at other companies. 

See our interactive infographic here.

“The entire industry is competing for this talent as we all work toward a collective goal of a carbon-free energy future,” TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said in a statement. “That’s why we routinely benchmark with other utility peers to create a competitive compensation system. This ensures we have a well-rounded, diverse and skilled workforce that can deliver the outcomes our customers expect, including keeping rates low.”

However, TVA has been heavily criticized on the compensation. In 2020, President Donald Trump called Lyash’s pay “ridiculous” and threatened (but failed) to cut that pay “by a lot.” 

In February, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) filed a bill to make TVA’s top salaries more transparent. The bill would require the government-owned corporation to list salary information for any employee making more than around $240,000. 

“Southeastern communities should be able to evaluate if those salaries match the service provided by TVA.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville)

“TVA’s top earners are paid generously, and Southeastern communities should be able to evaluate if those salaries match the service provided by TVA,” Burchett said in a statement at the time. “Compensation transparency from TVA’s key decision makers is important for maintaining the public’s trust.”

A bill filed by Cohen Friday takes the issue further, likely lowering pay for Lyash and other TVA executives. Current law only requires TVA’s salaries to be on par with any other power provider in the U.S., including private, for-profit companies. Cohen’s bill would make compensation comparable to “compensation of executives in public utilities in both the U.S. and Canada.”    

“It is past time to get realistic about TVA salaries and to do so fairly and transparently.”

Rep. Steve Cohen

“It is past time to get realistic about TVA salaries and to do so fairly and transparently,” Cohen said in a statement. “Electricity generation and transmission managed from Knoxville should not earn its CEO three times what a typical Canadian utility CEO makes. The comparison I am suggesting may open some eyes and restore some reality to compensation at TVA.”

A statement from Cohen’s office said a review by the Congressional Research Service found CEOs of “Canadian power companies make significantly less in annual total reported compensation than American CEOs.”

Salaries are not paid with taxpayer dollars but with revenue from electricity sales.

In May 2020, former Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander — a longtime TVA supporter — claimed (in a Knoxville News-Sentinel opinion piece) that Lyash’s salary ranked in the bottom fourth among “big utility CEO salaries.” 

“The Tennessee Valley Authority plays in the big leagues.”

former Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander

“The Tennessee Valley Authority plays in the big leagues,” Alexander said. “It is our country’s largest public utility, a $10 billion company serving 10 million residents in seven states. Big utilities pay big salaries to attract the best executives.”

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TVA Makes Case For MLGW Not to Switch Suppliers

CREDIT: Maya Smith

Maya Smith

Jeff Lyash, president and CEO of TVA speaks to PSAT

The head of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) told the team charged with weighing power supply options for Memphis that he’s “committed to helping them through the process.”

At the second meeting of Memphis Light, Gas & Water’s (MLGW) Power Supply Advisory Team (PSAT), Jeff Lyash, president and CEO of TVA, said he would like to see Memphis stay with TVA, but that he’s committed to helping Memphis make the “right decision.”

“It’s a critical decision for MLGW and the community of Memphis,” Lyash said. “So we want to help you through this process in order for you to get all the information you need … But, at the end of this, we would like to be your power supplier.”

Lyash said that in the past TVA has not “lived up to our or your expectation” in serving Memphis, but that “one of my objectives this year is to change that.”

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Making the case for TVA, John Thomas, chief financial officer of TVA, said Memphis has the lowest, most competitive utility rates in the country,

Thomas also said that the utility doesn’t anticipate those rates increasing over the next 10 years. This summer, the utility will draft its long-range plan for the next 10 years, which will include rate projections.

Although Memphis has the lowest rate in the country, at 6.81 cents per kilowatts hours, Memphis City Council member Martavious Jones, who is serving on the PSAT, said that about 20 percent of that rate is allocated to TVA’s debt budget.

Jones said without accounting for the utility’s debt, the rate would be 4.81 cents per kilowatt hour. If switching to another utility, with no debt, Jones said the rate might be cheaper, but the group should also consider the costs of transmitting the power to Memphis.


Lyash agreed, saying that MLGW should be “very careful and diligent” throughout the process and understand the “risks and assumptions” of any decision.

Lyash said that if MLGW pays 3 cents per kilowatt hour, “that’s not enough.” He said the utility also has to pay for reliability, operations, transmission, and maintenance. TVA’s rate includes those, he said.

“What you’ll see over time is that people like to quote you an energy price, but make sure you’re getting the whole picture.”

Lyash said that TVA’s transmission system is “arguably the most reliable in the country.”

“You need to consider what stands behind the product you’re buying,” he said. “Our power portfolio is strong and moving in the right direction.”

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MLGW president and CEO J.T. Young, who is heading the PSAT group, said the purpose of Thursday’s meeting was not to deliver a “TVA sales pitch,” but to look at the current state of operations in order to understand “how we get what we get.”

“When we anticipate anything different from that, we need to start with a good base line,” Young said.

Ultimately, any recommendations the PSAT team comes up with will have to be approved by both the MLGW board of commissioners and the Memphis City Council.

Still, Young said their input is “critical” to the final decision.

The next PSAT meeting will be on June 6th at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library at 10 a.m. Young said the group will review the recent studies done on alternative power suppliers. All of the meetings are open to the public.