This report responds to your request of June 14, 2001, to review potential ways for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to accelerate its debt reduction. As competition spread in the electric utility industry, TVA officials became increasingly aware of the need to prepare for the day when TVA might be required to compete with other utilities. In 1997 TVA declared its intent to reduce its cost of power and increase its financial flexibility to respond to competitive pressure largely by reducing debt by over half from $27.4 billion to about $13.2 billion by 2007. However, according to estimates that TVA provided to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in support of the presidents 2003 budget, TVA now plans to reduce outstanding debt to about $22.2 billion by 2007; this represents $9 billion less debt reduction than planned in 1997.