Georgia Power could raise rates to cover Vogtle construction costs | Georgia

(The Center Square) — Georgia Power and the state’s Public Service Commission’s Public Interest Advocacy group of workers have agreed to cap how a lot ratepayers can pay for Plant Vogtle construction costs.

The deal caps the restoration costs for Plant Vogtle’s Units 3 and four — the “first newly constructed nuclear units” constructed within the nation in additional than 3 a long time — at greater than $7.5 billion. According to Georgia Power, “average retail rates” would build up by way of kind of 5%, and “a typical resident customer using 1,000 kWh per month” could see their per thirty days invoice build up by way of $8.95.

PSC commissioners will have to approve the deal, and officers be expecting to unlock a time table of hearings in a while.

Georgia Power expects its proportion of the full undertaking to value kind of $10.2 billion, upper than the just about $7.3 billion estimate the PSC up to now deemed “reasonable.” According to the PSC, the settlement provides $200 million for “unanticipated” costs stemming from COVID-19, $36 million for advert valorem taxes and $33 million to cover costs for construction tracking.

According to Georgia Power, Unit 3 entered industrial operation on July 31, whilst loading gas into the Unit 4 reactor started on Aug. 17. Unit 4 could input provider by way of both the top of the 12 months or early subsequent 12 months.

“With the semiannual Vogtle Construction Monitoring reports and the countless hours of analysis on this project, I assume there has been more evidence presented in this docket than in any docket in PSC history,” Chairman Jason Shaw stated in a press release. “The culmination of construction on this historic project marks the expansion of clean energy production for another 60 to 80 years here in Georgia.”

Georgia Power owns just about part (45.7%) of Plant Vogtle. Oglethorpe Power Corporation, which serves 38 electrical club companies throughout Georgia, owns 30%, whilst the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia owns 22.7%, and Dalton Utilities owns 1.6%.

The PSC most effective has regulatory authority over Georgia Power.

Southern Company, Georgia Power’s guardian corporate, says the plant is an important to its plan to do away with greenhouse gasoline emissions by way of 2050.