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The TVA recently announced that the agency is working to try to make sure all the reservoirs in the system, 49 in all including Normandy Reservoir is at summer levels by June 1.

Tims Ford and Normandy Reservoirs are slightly above normal levels but releases over the last week returned them to normal levels.

According to TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said that despite the region was in drought conditions, That means May 2024 is the wettest May since 2003 with an average of 7.3 inches of rain across the system.

“As of now, rainfall for the month of May is at 210% of normal,” Brooks said. “That’s double the normal rainfall for the month. And runoff is 156% of normal for the month.”

“Prior to May 1,” Brooks said, “we had six months in a row of below normal rainfall and 12 of 13 months below normal runoff. That meant that, without 3 -5 inches of rain, some reservoirs like Norris, Douglas and Cherokee were likely not going to make it to summer levels. Well, that rain arrived in May.”

According to the TVA hydroelectric production for May is at 153% of normal.

“TVA loves our hydro fleet because it’s the least expensive form of generation. Rainfall is free fuel from the sky and we run every drop through as many generating dams (we have 29 in all) as we can before it leaves the system at Paducah, Kentucky. The more hydro we produce, the less we have to use other generating sources like natural gas and coal. That’s reflected in the monthly fuel cost portion of residential bills,” Brooks said.