Should you pay for Vogtle’s runaway costs? Regulators to decide
ATLANTA, Ga. - Georgia Power wants state utility regulators to OK a rate hike to fund the new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, but opponents say consumers shouldn’t pay for the cost overruns.
Georgia Public Service Commission began hearings Monday on a proposed deal to add $8.95 a month to a typical residential customer’s monthly bill, atop the $5.42 the utility is already collecting.
The increase would begin after Unit 4 begins commercial operation, likely next spring.
Vogtle’s Unit 3 and Unit 4 are the first new American reactors built from scratch in decades. Units 1 and 2 have been operating for decades at the plant near Waynesboro.
The new reactors are seven years late and $17 billion over budget.
The project’s overall cost, including financing, is currently $31 billion for Georgia Power and three other owners. Add in $3.7 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid to walk away from construction, and the total nears $35 billion.
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Georgia Power’s portion is $10.2 billion, plus $3.5 billion in financing costs, Chief Financial Officer Aaron Abramovitz testified Monday. He said the company could have asked the commission to award it $8.83 billion of the construction cost, but instead agreed to seek $7.56 billion.
“This strikes an appropriate balance among complex technical issues and provides for the recovery of reasonable and prudent costs for the project,” Abramovitz testified.
The commission’s staff, Georgia Power and some consumer groups reached the deal in August. The five elected commissioners, all Republicans, will vote Dec. 19 on whether to approve it.
The deal angered opponents.
Patty Durand, a Democrat who could challenge Republican Tim Echols, argues the deal does nothing to hold Georgia Power able for its failures.
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Durand says the company should only get the $6.1 billion in construction and financing costs it originally planned to pay for the reactors. And she said if that’s not possible, it should at least be the starting point for negotiations.
“You don’t start with the worst possible outcome for yourself, which is your opponent’s position, and negotiate down,” she said. “That is not a win.”
Finally, some opponents including Durand are also arguing that the vote shouldn’t take place before elections are held to fill the seats now occupied by Commissioners Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson.
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