After MLGW's decision to stay with TVA, one bidder, Franklin Haney, appeals

One bidder on Memphis' electricity supply has appealed Memphis, Light, Gas and Water's rejection of its bid, MLGW confirmed Friday.

Franklin L. Haney Company and a consortium of other companies submitted a bid on MLGW's electricity supply. The bid included a power purchase agreement for MLGW with the company supplying natural gas and solar electricity to the city-owned utility.

Haney's bid was among more than 20 private sector bids MLGW received last year during bidding on its electricity supply. MLGW and its consultant GDS opted against choosing any of the bidders and instead recommended that MLGW stay with the Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies Memphis and Shelby County with all of its electricity.

That meant MLGW has formally rejected all of the other bids on its electricity and prompted Haney's firm to challenge the bidding through an appeal.

The whole evaluation of whether MLGW should leave TVA started in earnest in 2018 because of Haney.

Haney first approached Memphis about selling it power from the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Hollywood, Alabama. The deal for the plant, which he was supposed to buy from TVA, never closed in November 2018. Haney and TVA spent the next three years fighting in federal court.

But the political pressure Haney put on MLGW in 2018 and 2019 forced the city-owned utility down the long, winding of bidding out its electricity supply.

Throughout his time courting Memphis, Haney has used power and influence to help shape events. He acknowledged in a 2020 deposition that he made donations to City Council candidates because they made the final decision about MLGW and TVA.

The MLGW Board of Commissioners and Memphis City Council must approve the 20-year contract MLGW leadership would like to sign with TVA. Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Franklin Haney appeals rejection of Memphis Light Gas Water TVA bid