We support House Bill 931

Representative Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates) introduced HB 931, which  would make Georgia Power Company stop collecting the financing costs for its under-construction nuclear project until the two new units at Plant Voglte are producing power.

Georgia Power is building two nuclear power plants, Vogtle 3 & 4. In 2009, the Legislature allowed Georgia Power to collect its financing costs through the Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery (NCCR) tariff during the construction of these two plants rather than after they began providing power. The money Georgia Power is collecting from its customers not only pays for the construction financing costs, but also for Georgia Power’s profits and income taxes. The project is already 39 months behind schedule. The Company also recently settled a long-standing legal dispute with one of its contractors over mistakes made during construction. The delay and the settlement will increase Georgia Power’s costs by $2.3 billion.

Georgia Power wants to pass this added cost along to its current customers:

·  Georgia Power’s customers would spend an extra three years paying $1.4 billion more than expected in NCCR tariff.

·  Current customers will have to pay another $600 million in fuel costs to compensate for the lack of these two nuclear power plants.

·  The impact on customers during construction is an additional $2 billion.

In December 2016, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) approved an agreement reached between Georgia Power and PSC Staff that will require the Company’s ratepayers rather than shareholders to absorb nearly all the impact of the delays and cost overruns. Adding insult to injury, Georgia Power requested an additional $95 million from ratepayers to explore more nuclear units in Stewart County. The Commission approved their request.