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Neighbors Powering What Matters

Community Energy: the benefit Jackson Energy Authority and TVA working together
Community Energy

Community Energy—In Jackson, Tenn., Our Power Means More

Our region is powered by a public power model — owned by and accountable to the people who live here. So the initiatives we invest in through our power model serve one purpose: helping our communities thrive.

Because we support public power, we all benefit from Community Energy. It’s the progress our model enables — like more job opportunities thanks to thriving and growing communities, outdoor recreation made possible by our protected lands, cleaner energy sources, and much more.

A Partnership of Service

Jackson Energy Authority and TVA work together to power not just our homes and businesses, but our potential too — by combining efforts to help create a future we all believe in.

Working Together to Make Life in Our Community Better

Jackson Energy Authority (JEA) and TVA were founded on a mission to serve — through reliable and affordable energy, a safe and protected environment and thriving economic development.

JEA delivers electricity to more than 36,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in the city of Jackson and surrounding rural areas in Madison County, which is situated in Western Tennessee. The public utility also offers natural gas, propane, water, wastewater and telecommunications services.

Our energy has fueled progress in our region since 1933. See the ways it's helping shape our future.

Resources for Your Home, Business and Life

Our partnership makes helpful programs like these possible.

Business

Jackson Energy Authority (JEA) partners with TVA EnergyRight® to help connect businesses and industries to the energy resources they need to thrive and help the whole community flourish. This program includes a Preferred Contractors Network to find reliable pros to set up and maintain a facility’s utilities and incentives to offset costs. Discover all the ways TVA EnergyRight® can help businesses manage energy use and boost the bottom line.

“Our relationship with TVA allows us to offer GreenFlex and GreenInvest to large industrial customers that are held to their company’s green energy standards,” Monte Cooper, chief operating officer of JEA says.

Business

Economic Development

Jackson Energy Authority (JEA) works with TVA Economic Development to attract companies that will bring jobs to the area and help existing businesses and industries grow in a sustainable way.

In September of 2022, Georgia-Pacific announced they will invest $425 million in a consumer products manufacturing facility in Madison County, Tennessee which will create 200 jobs. . Construction on the 900,000 square foot facility, located at Highway 223 East, a 316-acre, rail-served Select Tennessee Certified Site in Jackson is set to be completed by summer 2024.

Monte Cooper, chief operating officer of JEA says, “Jackson Energy Authority is thrilled to welcome Georgia-Pacific, and are grateful for the employment opportunities the facility will bring to our community. This project was made possible due to our economic development partnerships with TVA, the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, City of Jackson, Madison County and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.”

These partners also worked together to support Michigan-based HVAC sheet metal fabricator Ventcon’s decision to establish operations in Jackson.

Partnerships, including those with other economic development organizations and regional, state and community organizations help to foster capital investment and increase employment opportunities in the region.

TVA Economic Development serves the seven states that make up the TVA service area—almost all of Tennessee and parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky.

Economic Development

Education

Jackson Energy Authority (JEA) and TVA work together to support community-wide learning about energy efficiency, meet STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) objectives and provide opportunities to develop skills that can prepare students for careers in technical fields.

TVA STEM Grants

Teachers in public schools that receive power from a TVA distributor can win STEM grants up to $5,000. In 2022 alone, TVA distributed $1 million, in partnership with TVA retiree organization Bicentennial Volunteers Incorporated and the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network. TVA gives preference to applications covering its primary areas of focus–environment, energy, economic development and community problem solving.

Ted Austin, VP of customer service and community relations at JEA says, “A few of us from JEA visited Jackson Christian School and were amazed to see their forensics lab and what the kids were able to do as a result of the $5,000 in TVA STEM grant money they received in 2022 and 2021.”

Molly Plyler, K-12 director of STREAM, says in combination with a Battelle Education TSIN STEM classroom grant, they had enough funding “to purchase molecular biology equipment and a goggle sanitizing cabinet for the high school Life Science Lab. With healthcare being a top employer in West Tennessee, we are excited that this equipment will further provide Jackson Christian students with the foundational skills needed if they choose to pursue postsecondary opportunities in medicine or biotechnology.”

Sacred Heart of Jesus High School also won a TVA STEM grant in 2022, and the monies were used to purchase drones for their Aviation program, which is governed by Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the US Air Force. The drones are being used to help students learn how to monitor crops and livestock at local farms.

TVA STEM grants were also awarded to Augustine School and Trinity Christian Academy in 2022 and 2021, and North Parkway School in 2021.

TVA EnergyRight® School Uplift

Schools enrolled in TVA EnergyRight’s School Uplift program receive behavior-based strategic energy management (SEM) training that helps them integrate energy efficiency practices into their daily operations to save energy and money. Schools compete to win grants for infrastructure upgrades to reduce energy costs and improve the quality of the learning environment.

TVA EnergyRight Educational Workshops

Eye Spy Energy Kids’ Workshop

TVA EnergyRight and JEA partner to bring Spark, Bolt, Zap and their other EnergyRight Monster friends to elementary schools across the community, teaching students where energy comes from, how we use it and ways to save at home. Students can continue the energy-saving fun with their families using Eye Spy Energy Kits.

Energy Evolution High School Workshop

TVA EnergyRight and JEA are working together to offer engaging, interactive workshops that empower high school students to reduce their environmental impact and lead the next wave of our planet’s energy evolution.

Education

Residential

Jackson Energy Authority (JEA) partners with TVA to help customers make smart energy decisions and save money through TVA EnergyRight®.

Together, they provide resources that help customers make smart home energy decisions. From DIY energy-saving advice to reputable local contractor recommendations, TVA EnergyRight® offers ways to help improve home energy efficiency and save money on the power bill.

JEA has partnered with TVA, Southwest Human Resources Agency (SWRA), Healthy Communities, LLC and Habitat for Humanity to give income-qualified residents home energy upgrades that improve energy efficiency and comfort and lower utility bills through TVA EnergyRight® Home Uplift.

Community Energy - Residential