Post by pavel on Apr 22, 2016 10:44:19 GMT -6
The Tennessee Valley Authority has sweetened for retirees its initial plan to revamp its underfunded pension plan with cost-of-living caps and benefit limits in hopes of gaining the support of the TVA Retirement System board for changes needed to shore up its underfunded plan.
At the urging of Congress and retirement groups, TVA agreed this week to pump another $25 million a year into its main employees' pension plan beyond its earlier $275 million annual offer. TVA also agreed for the first time to limit promised cost-of-living raises for TVA executives in a separate retirement benefit plan.
The latest changes, which modify an offer made by TVA in late 2015 to the trustees of its retirement program, would still save the utility about $700 million of unfunded liability. But TVA President Bill Johnson said he tried to address the concerns of the Retirement System board and others to develop a fair and balanced approach to shoring up the pension plan, which actuaries estimate is about $6 billion short of meeting all of its financial obligations.
"We've agreed to more than 90 percent of what the TVARS (the TVA Retirement System) board requested in their counter proposal to us and I would say that the benefit reductions we are asking for our small and modest," Johnson said. "This is a compromise solution we believe is in the best interests of all concerned. We're trying to balance the needs and promises made to our employees and retirees and our desire to keep electric rates as low as possible and not to shift the costs of our pension shortfall on to customer bills."
Read more: www.timesfreepress.com/news/business/aroundregion/story/2016/apr/22/tvagrees-put-more-money-employee-pensifund/361534/
At the urging of Congress and retirement groups, TVA agreed this week to pump another $25 million a year into its main employees' pension plan beyond its earlier $275 million annual offer. TVA also agreed for the first time to limit promised cost-of-living raises for TVA executives in a separate retirement benefit plan.
The latest changes, which modify an offer made by TVA in late 2015 to the trustees of its retirement program, would still save the utility about $700 million of unfunded liability. But TVA President Bill Johnson said he tried to address the concerns of the Retirement System board and others to develop a fair and balanced approach to shoring up the pension plan, which actuaries estimate is about $6 billion short of meeting all of its financial obligations.
"We've agreed to more than 90 percent of what the TVARS (the TVA Retirement System) board requested in their counter proposal to us and I would say that the benefit reductions we are asking for our small and modest," Johnson said. "This is a compromise solution we believe is in the best interests of all concerned. We're trying to balance the needs and promises made to our employees and retirees and our desire to keep electric rates as low as possible and not to shift the costs of our pension shortfall on to customer bills."
Read more: www.timesfreepress.com/news/business/aroundregion/story/2016/apr/22/tvagrees-put-more-money-employee-pensifund/361534/