TVA's Website Recognized as One of the Government's Top Five

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A topWashington publication has named the Tennessee Valley Authority'snewly redesigned website, www.tva.com, one of the five best in theU.S. government.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100304/TVALOGO)

An assessment by Congress.org of CQ-Roll Call Group, whichpublishes Congressional Quarterly and the Capitol Hill newspaperRoll Call, said TVA's website "jumps out at users right away" with"high-quality images" that "capture a visitor's attention."

"Nice, big pictures, quick links, concise menu, good use of colorand no clutter all make this a successful website," the publicationsaid. "The interior pages are well organized and individuallydesigned to meet the needs of the content."

The publication consulted with Internet designers and otherindependent professionals in the Washington area to determine thegovernment's best-designed public websites. In addition to TVA, webexperts also gave top-five rankings to the U.S. Election AssistanceCommission; the Federal Emergency Management Agency's DisasterAssistance site; the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook,which provides data on countries around the world, and the Obamaadministration's Recovery.gov site, which tracks how tax dollars arespent.

The Congress.org assessment particularly praised the TVAwebsite's "I Want to Know About" panel, which provides quick linksto the site's nine most popular topics: energy efficiency,construction permits, employment, renewable energy, TVA history,land and shoreline management, facts and figures about dams andpower plants; and information on flood and storm relief.

While several government agencies with highly rated websitesreportedly have spent millions of dollars on design work and contentfor their Internet presence, often using outside consultants, TVAaccomplished its website redesign with a three-person team ofwriters and designers on the TVA Communications staff, working overabout four months with TVA's Information Technology staff.

"We drew upon TVA's extensive photo library, subject-matterexperts across the corporation and our own internal staff to makethe TVA website simple, attractive and easy to use," said JerryCollins, TVA's senior manager of creative services, who led theredesign effort during the summer of 2010. "We looked at what peoplewere most interested in, and we asked users for suggestions on howto make the site more useful and user-friendly."

While lamenting that "some of the federal government's websitesare downright awful," the Congress.org website report also said that"great government sites do exist and, at their best, perform a vitaltask: make important information easily available to citizens."

"TVA is working to be one of the nation's leading providers ofcleaner low-cost energy, and part of our job is to tell people howwe're doing that," said David Mould, TVA's senior vice president ofCommunications. "The TVA website is a key tool in that effort."

The complete story can be found at the Congress.org website athttp://www.congress.org/news/2010/12/27/the_five_best_government_websites, and the TVA website can be viewedat http://www.tva.gov.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S.government, provides electricity for utility and business customersin most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky,Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia - an area of 80,000 squaremiles with a population of 9 million. TVA operates 29 hydroelectricdams, 11 coal-fired power plants, three nuclear plants and 11natural gas-fired power facilities that can produce about 34,000megawatts of electricity, delivered over 16,000 miles of high-voltage power lines. TVA also provides flood control, navigation,land management and recreation for the Tennessee River system andworks with local utilities and state and local governments topromote economic development across the region. TVA, which makes noprofits and receives no taxpayer money, is funded by sales ofelectricity to its customers. Electricity prices in TVA's serviceterritory are below the national average.

SOURCE Tennessee Valley Authority