Tennessee's electricity story starts with one federal agency. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), created by Congress in 1933 and headquartered in Knoxville, owns most of the large generating stations in the state. Dams, gas plants, nuclear units and a shrinking coal fleet all sit under one public utility. That is why a search here turns up names like Sequoyah, Bull Run, Cordell Hull and Dale Hollow rather than a long list of private operators.

This page draws on the 93 power plant listings in our database, from Memphis in the west to Bristol in the northeast. It explains who runs these facilities, who regulates them, and which office to contact when you have a question, a complaint or a project nearby.

How Electricity Is Generated and Sold Across Tennessee

TVA generates power and sells it at wholesale. In most of the state it does not mail you a bill. Local power companies, which are municipal systems and electric cooperatives, buy TVA power and own the poles, meters and customer service desks. The three largest public systems are Nashville Electric Service, Memphis Light, Gas and Water, and EPB in Chattanooga.

Kingsport is an exception. Its retail electric service comes from Kingsport Power, an AEP subsidiary, rather than a TVA-supplied local power company.

Not every listing is a utility station. Our records mix several kinds of facilities:

That mix matters when you search. A dam powerhouse, a paper mill generator and a landfill gas engine have different owners, different neighbors and different phone numbers.

Who Regulates and Oversees Power Plants in Tennessee

TVA is a federal corporation. Its board is appointed by the President, and it answers to Congress rather than to the Tennessee Public Utility Commission. The commission does regulate investor-owned utilities in the state, and Kingsport Power falls in that group. For a complaint about a municipal or cooperative power company, start with that company's own board or governing body.

Several other agencies touch nearly every plant:

Which agency you call depends on the problem. Smoke, odor or a discharge into a creek goes to the nearest TDEC field office. A safety concern at a nuclear plant can go to the NRC. A downed line goes to 911 first, then to your local power company.

West, Middle and East Tennessee: Why the Plants Look So Different

Tennessee's three Grand Divisions have very different generating profiles, and the listings reflect that.

West Tennessee is flat and has few large rivers for hydropower. Generation here is mostly gas-fired. Allen, at 2574 Plant Road in Shelby County, serves the Memphis load. Lagoon Creek in Brownsville and Selmer I in McNairy County sit in smaller towns where gas turbines can be built quickly and dispatched when demand climbs.

Middle Tennessee is built around the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. Cordell Hull in Carthage, Cheatham at Ashland City and Dale Hollow at Celina all produce hydropower under federal management. Johnsonville, on the Tennessee River in Humphreys County, is a former coal site. Urban Nashville, in Davidson County, has a different footprint: smaller cogeneration and recovery projects, plus a load served by Nashville Electric Service.

East Tennessee holds the densest cluster. The Cumberland Plateau and Appalachian ridges give hydro an advantage, and the region also hosts nuclear power. Hamilton County has the most listings, led by Sequoyah and the airport solar array. In Polk County, the Ocoee dams and powerhouses supply electricity and also feed the whitewater rafting that draws visitors to the Ocoee River. The Ocoee corridor hosted the 1996 Olympic canoe and kayak slalom events.

Coal has faded across the state. TVA has retired coal units at sites including Allen, Bull Run in Clinton and Johnsonville, and Allen now runs on gas. If an old map or news story calls a site a coal plant, check its current status before you plan around it.

Finding and Contacting a Power Plant Office in Tennessee

Most plants do not have a public counter. They are industrial sites with controlled gates, and the useful contact is often a corporate office, a visitor center or a local power company. Use these steps to save time:

Some addresses in our database point to the plant, not to a staffed office. Where a phone number is listed, such as Allen at 901-789-8427 or Bull Run at 865-945-7200, it is a good first call. Where none is shown, contact the owner or the local power company. Dam gates and reservoir releases change with weather, so confirm conditions the day you go.

Power plant facilities in Tennessee include a mix of federal, state, and municipally owned generation assets that contribute to the region's overall electricity supply. Tennessee's energy mix and the number of publicly owned facilities reflect the state's natural resources, regulatory environment, and historical development of its utility infrastructure.

Power Plant locations are available in 52 cities across Tennessee. They are spread across 39 counties.

Areas with the highest concentration of power plant locations include Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, often reflecting proximity to water resources, fuel supply infrastructure, or industrial demand centers.

Residents of Tennessee who are customers of a municipal or public power utility can contact their local power authority for billing assistance, energy efficiency programs, and information about planned outages or infrastructure upgrades in their service area.

Power Plant by Counties

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Residents of Tennessee who receive electricity service from a publicly owned utility can visit or contact that utility's customer service office to learn about outage reporting, billing options, and energy assistance programs. For information about a specific power generation facility in Tennessee, contacting the state's public utility commission is often the best starting point.

Browse Power Plant by county across Tennessee to find the nearest location.

Reading Tennessee's Power Plant Listings Before You Call or Visit

Our listings come from public facility records, so a few entries need interpretation. Cheatham appears twice. One record gives Ashland City in Cheatham County and the other gives Charlotte in Dickson County, because the dam and its powerhouse sit on the Cumberland River near the county line. Both point to 2250 Cheatham Dam Road. Likewise, Watauga Dam Reservation lists a well treatment facility, which is water infrastructure tied to the TVA reservation rather than a generating station.

Names can also lag behind reality. Entries such as Watts Bar Fossil and Opryland Usa reflect how a facility was registered in federal databases, not how it operates now. If the purpose of a site matters to you, confirm it with the owner before you drive out. For a quick check, match the address against the nearest town's local power company, TVA or the Corps of Engineers.

Power Plant FAQs for Tennessee

No. Most large plants belong to the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal corporation created in 1933 and based in Knoxville. The Army Corps of Engineers operates the federal dams on the Cumberland River, including Cordell Hull, Cheatham and Dale Hollow. State government's role is regulatory. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation issues air and water permits, while the Tennessee Public Utility Commission oversees investor-owned utilities such as Kingsport Power. TVA itself is not regulated by that commission, so complaints about TVA generation usually go to TVA directly or to your local power company.

Call your local power company, not the plant. In Memphis that is Memphis Light, Gas and Water. In Nashville it is Nashville Electric Service, and in Chattanooga it is EPB. Rural counties are usually served by an electric cooperative or a municipal system, and the name appears on your monthly bill. Kingsport customers deal with Kingsport Power. These companies own the poles, transformers and meters. If a downed wire is sparking or touching a vehicle, stay well back and call 911 first, then report it to the power company.

It depends on the type of site. Nuclear plants such as Sequoyah in Soddy-Daisy and Watts Bar in Spring City have strict security, so you should not expect to walk in. Many hydro dams are more open. Cordell Hull Dam in Smith County, Dale Hollow Dam at Celina and Cheatham Dam have lake recreation areas, overlooks or campgrounds managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Access can change during high water or security alerts. Check the lake's official page or call the project office before you go, and never enter fenced areas below a dam.

Both nuclear plants are surrounded by an emergency planning zone with a radius of about ten miles, a standard set by federal nuclear regulators. Residents inside it usually receive an annual information packet explaining warning sirens, evacuation routes and shelter instructions. County emergency management agencies work with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the plant operator on drills and alerts. If you recently moved to Hamilton or Rhea County, ask your county emergency management office for the current materials. Keep a battery or hand-crank radio, since sirens are only a first signal.

Contact the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Its environmental field offices take complaints about air emissions, stream discharges and spills, and the Division of Air Pollution Control and Division of Water Resources review permit compliance. This matters in industrial areas such as Kingsport in Sullivan County, where Eastman Chemical runs its own power operations, and in Counce, home to a Packaging Corp of America mill. Note the date, time, location and what you saw or smelled, and take photos from public property. An emergency spill should go to 911.

Largely no. TVA has retired coal units at several Tennessee sites, including Allen in Memphis, Bull Run in Clinton and Johnsonville in New Johnsonville. Allen now generates with natural gas, and John Sevier near Rogersville also runs on gas. Retired coal sites can still be active in other ways. Ash storage, cleanup and site reuse continue for years, and TDEC and TVA publish updates. Our listings use the registered facility name, so an older name like Bull Run may describe a site that no longer burns coal. Confirm the current status with TVA before you rely on the listing.