EnergyRight® Solutions Loan Obligations and Receivables

We included an audit of loan obligations and receivables relating to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) EnergyRight® Solutions loan program in our annual audit plan after a review of TVA’s financial statements indicated a significant outstanding receivables balance. As of September 30, 2017, TVA’s loan obligations under the program were approximately $144.1 million, and the related loans receivable balance (net of discounts) was approximately $125.2 million. Our audit objectives were to (1) determine whether loans were issued in accordance with TVA policies and procedures, (2) confirm loan balances to verify the receivables, and (3) determine the extent to which loans were charged-off as bad debt and evaluate compliance with TVA’s policies and procedures. We found loans were generally issued in compliance with TVA’s policies and procedures. However, we were unable to confirm individual loan balances to verify the TVA receivable amount because neither TVA nor Regions (the bank servicing the loans) track individual loan balances. In addition, we found (1) loan write-offs were generally not made in accordance with the program guidelines, (2) summary-level, loan-program balances reported to TVA by local power companies did not agree to those provided by Regions, (3) local power company loan documentation retention needs improvement, and (4) installation inspections are not required.