The Dixon–Yates contract was a 1954 contract between the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and two private energy companies, Middle South Utilities and the Southern Company, to supply 600,000 kilowatts of power to the AEC for their Tennessee plant. The power would replace power from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which could be used instead for the growing power demand of the city of Memphis. The TVA had asked for federal funds to build additional generating capacity for Memphis, but President Dwight D. Eisenhower opposed using taxes to provide tax-free low-interest financing to benefit one metropolitan area.