VDT links Plant Vogtle nuke cost overruns to Kemper Coal

Even the VDT has caught on to cost overruns for Kemper Coal and the new nukes at Plant Vogtle.

VDT posted an AP article 29 July 2013, Miss. deal may figure into Georgia nuclear plant, and Charlotte Observer posted it the day before, including Ray Henry as the author,

In Mississippi, the Southern Co. utility took financial losses when the cost of building a new power plant went over budget. In Georgia, another of the company’s projects is going over budget, but it has not yet taken a financial hit.

Southern Company subsidiary Mississippi Power promised utility regulators that it would charge its customers only for $2.4 billion in costs for building a coal-fired power plant in Kemper Country. Those customers will also have to pay off another $1 billion in bonds for the project, though the utility cannot make a profit off that borrowed money.

The utility’s deal in Mississippi has become a point of debate as Georgia regulators consider who should pay for the increased cost of building two more nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle (VOH’-gohl), southeast of Augusta. Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols said he wants Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power to consider a Mississippi-style deal here, and Georgia regulators are carefully tracking financial developments in Mississippi.

Echols said he was interested in the idea of a project spending cap.

“I’m sure when they made that deal they didn’t think they were going to over the cap, but they did,” Echols said.

Oh, come now, they went 26 times over budget last time. Why would anyone believe Georgia Power and Southern Company would not run over budget this time?

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said this week that it would be a “good solution” if Southern Co. could absorb more of the costs.

Southern Company and Georgia Power have lost the governor.

Opponents of both Southern Co. projects say the settlement agreement in Mississippi increases the political pressure on Georgia Power to accept losses rather than pass all extra costs onto customers. Though the projects are not perfectly comparable because of differences in technology and customer rates, the Mississippi agreement created a political precedent, said Jenna Garland, a spokeswoman for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign.

“I think a lot of people here in Georgia say, ‘Oh, that’s terrible. What a tragedy,'” she said, describing reaction to the Mississippi project costs. “And then they look in Georgia and say, ‘Hey, we’re paying through the nose, too.'”

And a couple days later SO CEO Tom Fanning backed off the cost overrun request, winning Fitch reaffirmation by SO’s and Georgia Power’s ratings. But that was just a delay. The showdown will come at GA PSC. Do Georgia Public Service Commissioners want us to keep paying through the nose for that white elephant ont he Savannah River?

You can protest directly to Georgia Power about that CWIP stealth tax on your bill. Or you can contact the GA PSC or the state legislature.

-jsq