Georgia Power seeks nuke fee

The push is on.

Georgia Power asked the state Public Service Commission on Monday for permission to bill its customers about

$51 million in planning and licensing costs for a new nuclear plant in Georgia — even though the company says it still has not decided to build one.

The request comes as state lawmakers also are pressuring the PSC. Resolutions urging the commission's support for a new nuke were filed in both the House and the Senate late last week.

And PSC chairman Stan Wise weighed in, too, issuing a statement Monday applauding Georgia Power's request: "This measure will diversify Georgia's energy mix by expanding nuclear generation at existing plants in our state. ... We all are aware of natural gas price volatility and what it means to Georgians."

Nuclear opponents appeared blindsided by the request.

Steve Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said Georgia Power is asking its regulators to "develop amnesia" about the state's nuclear history, including controversial cost overruns at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro — where any new nuke also would go.

Plant Vogtle's estimated $660 million price tag ballooned to nearly $9 billion by the late 1980s, when the two existing units were complete, according to the Energy Information Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Smith, whose public interest group argues for conservation and renewable energy, said Georgia Power's proposal would transfer the risk of nuclear investment from stockholders to customers.

The company said its request should be seen as a way of keeping the nuclear option open in Georgia, and possibly stabilizing energy costs in the future.

"Not having nuclear as an option is a bigger risk to our ratepayers than having that option," said spokesman John Sell, noting recent price spikes in coal and natural gas, the other major fuels for power plants.

Customer charge unclear

Georgia Power's request asks that it be allowed to recoup its planning costs from customers, even if it doesn't build a nuclear plant. The company predicts it is about nine years away from bringing a new plant online, if it in fact does so.

If the company does build a new nuke, customers will pay for the planning and other costs when it begins producing power. Georgia Power had no estimate of the total cost but said it would be less than the cost of the initial Vogtle unit.

Either way, it's unclear how much extra customers would have to pay each month.

The $51 million is Georgia Power's estimate of its own 47 percent share of planning costs for a new nuclear unit at Plant Vogtle. The state's electric membership cooperatives are responsible for the rest. They, too, are pushing for a new nuke.

Georgia Power's request is the latest in a series of steps the company has been taking over the last two years toward building a nuclear plant, while saying it's not committed to actually doing so.

The latest move is a serious one, according to one energy expert, Paul Plath of Denver-based E3 Consulting, which tracks the energy industry.

Race to build first

The federal energy bill signed by President Bush last year gave strong enticements to any company that not only builds a new nuke, but also builds it first, he said. It has been almost 30 years since the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident in Pennsylvania and a new nuclear power plant was licensed in the United States.

Plath said PSC approval of the proposed order would put Georgia Power and its parent company, Southern Co., "at the forefront" of a handful of companies, including North Carolina's Duke Power, Virginia's Dominion and New Orleans-based Entergy, that are now moving forward with plans for new nukes.

Others may be further along in the federal process, he said, "but I don't believe any other utility has gone to their PSC [regulatory board] for approval of starting costs."

Only the first two nuclear plants in the country will be able to take full advantage of the energy bill enticements, which include a production tax credit once the nuke is online, up to $500 million in guaranteed protection against litigation and regulatory delays, and federal guarantees on loans.

Plath, who said he believes in nuclear energy expansion, said he had no real estimate of what a new nuclear unit would cost.

"It's been 25 years since a new nuclear plant has been built in this country," he said. "Nobody really knows what its going to cost to build a new one."