Quarantines and lockdowns at large U.S. power plants are threatening to squeeze a multibillion-dollar slice of revenue that General Electric Co is counting on to help lift profits.
"We have deferred routine maintenance activities to the limit possible at these facilities but are still performing the work needed to maintain reliability," Jim Hopson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates across seven states, told Reuters. It operates a fleet of more than a dozen large GE-made natural gas turbines.
GE's once-high-flying aviation unit has been hit by the drop in air travel, adding to the toll from hundreds of Boeing Co's grounded 737 MAX jetliners. A GE joint venture makes MAX engines. Other issues are adding to GE's headwinds. Low interest rates have raised pension costs and liabilities for long-term-care insurance policies, which will hit GE at year-end. Falling oil prices have wiped out US$1.4 billion in value from GE's stake in Baker Hughes Co since early March, money that would help GE pay down debt.