It’s about time. -jsq

Jeanne Bonner wrote for GPB today

Vogtle Cost Overruns Targeted,

A state
lawmaker wants to prevent Georgia Power from reaping profits on cost
overruns at Plant Vogtle. Rep. Jeff Chapman will file a bill
Thursday that would bar the utility from making money on anything
other than the certified cost of the nuclear power plant it’s
building in eastern Georgia.

Chapman said before writing the bill, he sent a letter to Georgia
Power, asking the company to forego the profits.

He said he hasn’t had a response.

Under a 2009 bill, the company can collect in advance the financing
costs for the two reactors it’s building near Augusta.

Chapman, a Brunswick Republican, says he supports the project. But

he said he doesn’t want utility customers to be on the hook because
Georgia Power underestimated the project’s cost.

“There’s no incentive, if you’re going to make the same return
on equity from a cost overrun,” he said in an interview. “Georgia
Power agreed to a certified price to build the plant. Obviously
everything will be fully funded, but we want to eliminate the
profit, where they apply that profit to the cost overrun.”

Chapman says he has concerns about the 2009 bill that allows Georgia
Power to pre-collect the financing costs.

“I am against the use of government power to bring favor to a
private industry, especially when it can harm the taxpayer, if you
will,” he said.

An independent construction monitor has found the project is already
about $90 million over budget.

In a statement, a Georgia Power spokesman said the Public Service
Commission has approved all costs and has said the utility is
managing the project well.

In the statement, the spokesman also said, “The PSC has complete
oversight of the project and has verified and approved every dollar
spent to date. To date, the Commission has conducted seven separate
public hearings (it is about to perform its 8th) in which it has
verified and approved each dollar spent, has received reports from
its independent monitor Dr. Bill Jacobs, and continually assessed
the economics of the project.”