Per TVA’s Office of Inspector General, TVA’s qualified employee pension plan administered by TVARS was only 59 percent funded at the end of fiscal year 2012. TVA needed to contribute an additional $4.9 Billion to make the pension 100% funded. TVARS’ funding ratio has declined over the last several years, while the funding ratios of most of TVA’s competitors have significantly improved. The main cause of this appears to be TVA’s continued reluctance to properly fund the pension. For example, TVA budgeted $530 million to cover the pension in fiscal year 2012, but contributed none of those funds to its employees’ pension. However, TVA did give $8 million to the SERP (supplemental executive retirement plan). All companies in private industry in the United States which have pension plans, including TVA’s major competitors, follow laws established by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Pension Protection Act (PPA). Under these l...