What is TVA?

The Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA, is the largest public power company in the United States. TVA also carefully manages the nation’s fifth-largest river to reduce flood damage, make rivers easier to travel, provide recreation, protect aquatic life and keep the water clean. TVA helps make the Tennessee River Valley a good place for families to live and work.

What TVA Does

Have you ever wondered what TVA does? The answer is: many different things.

TVA is the largest public power company in the United States. It’s called “public” because it’s owned by the U.S. government, unlike most companies that are owned by individual people or investors. Through its plants that make electricity, TVA supplies power to 10 million people in the southeastern United States.

In addition to producing power for many Americans, TVA also manages the nation’s fifth-largest river system. The Tennessee River flows 652 miles from East Tennessee down into Alabama and back up into Kentucky, where it joins the Ohio River. All along the Tennessee River, TVA employees work to reduce the dangers of flooding, make it possible for boats to travel safely, and keep the water clean.

In the 41,000-square-mile area drained by the Tennessee River, TVA also operates some of the country’s best outdoor recreation areas. Although TVA was first set up in 1933 as an agency supported by Americans’ tax dollars, today it runs all of its programs and pays its employees with the money it earns by making and selling electricity.

So, the next time you turn on a computer, drink from the school water fountain or go fishing on a TVA reservoir, you will know what part TVA plays in helping everybody in the Valley lead a better life.

Working for TVA

TVA has jobs for engineers and scientists and even police officers. Find out how some 10,000 TVA workers serve the people of the Tennessee Valley.

TVA and Its Partners

TVA has a big job to do in the Tennessee Valley, and knows it can use all the help it can get. The bigger the team, the more that gets done. Learn who TVA works with and what they do together.