Tag Archives: CWIP

Editorial: Repeal abusive nuclear fee bill

11/12/14 — ocala.com It is unconscionable that Duke Energy is sitting on $1.5 billion of ratepayers’ money that was collected to pay for two now-canceled Levy County nuclear power plants and refusing to refund the money. Even more outrageous is that the Florida Public Service Commission, which is appointed by the Legislature to represent the “public” interests in utility matters, has refused to order the company to do so.

Now comes state Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, who represents a good portion of Marion County, with proposed legislation to repeal the notorious “nuclear cost recovery fee” legislation that allowed Duke to collect the money in the first place.

The law was passed in 2006 to encourage Florida utilities to build nuclear power plants. The companies, especially large ones like Duke and Florida Power & Light, convinced lawmakers that it was wiser to pay for the mega-costly facilities — the Levy plants would have cost in excess of $24 billion — by collecting money from customers up-front. Problem is, there was no provision for refunding the money if it was not used for its intended purpose.

Read the whole article: ocala.com

Money and power: How much will Georgia Power’s nuclear reactors cost us?

By Joeff Davis
ATLANTA 9/25/14 — Have you glanced at your electric bill lately? Next time it arrives in the mail, give it a closer look.

You might not have noticed, but your monthly bill has increased over the last few years. And it’s not because you are using more energy. It’s because we, the Georgia Power ratepayers, are helping to finance the construction of the utility’s new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Located approximately 175 miles southeast of Atlanta, the reactors are the first new ones to be approved in the United States in nearly 30 years.

Though it doesn’t say so on your bill, ratepayers are paying more than they were in 2011. And you’re not using a kilowatt more. When those reactors come online, you might pay even more. Your monthly bill could soar because the project suffers from delays and cost overruns. You’ll be footing the bill without knowing the costs ahead of time. It’ll be sticker shock. For a project that was shoved down our throats, we deserve more transparency.

Read the whole article: Creative Loafing

A tale of two states’ electricity rates

by Brian Hicks
Charleston 3/30/14 — John Bennett decided to skip Charleston’s psychotic winter this year and spend a few months in Florida.

But even in the Sunshine State he got a cold chill from the Lowcountry.

A few weeks ago Bennett’s Florida power bill came in about the same time as his forwarded bill from SCE&G. The comparison couldn’t have shocked him more if he’d had his finger in a light socket.

Even though he had used four times as much power in Florida as in his Charleston home, the bills were just $5 apart.

“I don’t understand how they’ve been allowed to get away with this for so long,” Bennett says.

Read the whole article: Charleson Post & Courier

MEAG creating three subsidiaries for Vogtle funding

by Ray Lightner
GRIFFIN 2/8/14 — The Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow it to create up to three wholly owned subsidiaries to help MEAG fund the expansion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant.

The expansion, adding reactors 3 and 4, has already been approved, with MEAG as one of the licensed co-owners, along with Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Georgia Power Company, Oglethorpe Power Corporation and the City of Dalton. MEAG owns 22.7 percent, Oglethorp Power owns 30 percent, City of Dalton owns 1.6 percent and Georgia Power owns the rest.

Southern Nuclear Operating Company operates Vogtle and is making the request, which would allow MEAG to create the three subsidiaries, dividing up MEAG’s 22.7 percent share of the electricity generated by the two new reactors.

Read the whole article: Griffin Daily News

Ga. agency seeks funding to track nuclear costs

by Ray Henry
ATLANTA (AP) 1/25/14 — Badly outnumbered regulators in Georgia want to hire two more employees to keep tabs on the $14 billion project to build a first-of-its-kind nuclear plant.

Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power says its share of the project to build Plant Vogtle (VOH’-gohl) is projected to go hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. Its 2.4 million customers will pay for the company’s building costs unless regulators force the utility to take losses on questionable spending.

Now the chairman of the Public Service Commission, Chuck Eaton, is asking state lawmakers for roughly $180,000 to fund two more employees to carefully track utility spending and construction efforts. The information those monitors gather will be crucial if regulators ultimately want to block Georgia Power from billing its customers for at least some of the project’s increasing cost.

Regulators are at a disadvantage when contending with Georgia Power, a monopoly that owns a 46 percent stake in the nuclear plant.

Read the whole article: SFGate

Unneeded nuclear plants

by Bob Farquhar
MACON 1/13/14 — Joe Hubbard’s Dec. 24 letter “Citizens pay the cost” brings to mind one profit-enhancing scheme of Southern Company most people are unaware of. CWIP, or Construction Work In Progress, is a fee levied on electric customers to finance the construction costs of two unproven nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro. Georgia Power bills show “Nuclear Construction Cost Recovery” for the 7.6 percent that ratepayers have been forking over since 2009 when the Georgia Legislature and Public Service Commission approved CWIP. So far about $1.5 billion has been collected. CWIP reduces Southern Company’s financial risk for construction, passing it on to ratepayers.

Read the whole article: Macon Telegraph

Rate gouging gone wild: Who wins 2013′s Sour Orange Award for sticking it to Floridians?

by Robert Trigaux
TAMPA 12/13/13 — Every year, the oafish actions of big business or government hurt Florida consumers. Think back to banks that fraudulently “robo-signed” home foreclosure papers. Or state-run Citizens Property Insurance dumping gobs of Florida policyholders.

But 2013 upped the ante in sticking it to Floridians. So much so that I decided to issue the annual Sour Orange Award for inflicting the most harm on Tampa Bay and Florida residents.

Two especially outrageous actions were finalists for the award. It was a tough choice.

The first travesty: the Biggert-Waters Act to “reform” those flood insurance premiums on older homes that have been subsidized for decades. Blindly approved by Congress and implemented this fall, the act is starting to rapidly jack up premiums and scare away home buyers. In just a few months, the act already threatens to disrupt and perhaps destroy portions of Florida’s coastal and low-lying real estate markets, ruin home values and undermine a cornerstone of the state economy.

Competing against Biggert-Waters is Duke Energy’s gouging Florida customers this year in a series of flubbed nuclear power projects in Florida. Many of Duke’s actions came at the direct expense of its own (and increasingly unhappy) base of Florida customers. In February, Duke decided to shutter its one and only nuclear power plant, broken since 2009, in Crystal River north of Tampa. This past week, Duke said it will take the next 60 years and spend $1.2 billion just to decommission the plant, leaving decades of spent radioactive fuel stored on site and under guard.

Read the whole article: Tampa Bay Times

AARP seeks repeal of nuclear ‘advance fee’ as a priority in 2014

by Ivan Penn
12/9/13 — In its December newsletter, the AARP pledged that one of its 2014 legislative goals is the repeal of the state law that allows utilities to charge customers in advance for new nuclear projects.

AARP said it is backing a small but growing coalition of lawmakers who believe the law is an unfair tax on consumers who may get nothing from the charges.

The Nuclear Cost Recovery Clause or so-called “advance fee” has been a growing point of contention since Duke Energy and Florida Power & Light began using the statute for proposed nuclear plants that may never get built.

Read the whole article: Tampa Bay Times

Tea Party, Sierra Club Unite to Support Solar Energy in Georgia

by Chris Martin
11/27/13 – Here’s a riddle to vex the Washington political class: When do Tea Party Republicans stand together with Sierra Club environmentalists?

The answer lies in their support for solar energy. The Green Tea Coalition, a Georgia-based group, is reviving a Republican Party link with the Sierra Club that dates back more than a century to President Theodore Roosevelt. Their goal is to reignite support for environmental conservation and fight traditional utilities’ market power by pushing alternative energy sources, especially solar power. “Some people have called this an unholy alliance,” says Debbie Dooley, a co-founder of both the coalition and the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots. “We agree on the need to develop clean energy, but not much else.”

In recent years, Dooley organized protests of what she calls Georgia Power’s (SO) stranglehold on its customers. She was especially rankled in 2009 after the company, the state’s largest utility, added a monthly surcharge to customer bills to finance the development of two nuclear reactors south of Augusta. In 2012, Dooley was approached by the local chapter of the Sierra Club about joining forces to lobby Georgia’s Public Service Commission to require Georgia Power to buy more solar power.

Read the whole article: Businessweek

POWER PLAY: Proposed energy rate increase and solar fee means big profits for utility, bigger bills for consumers

by Jessica Leigh Lebos
SAVANNAH 10/30/13 – If Georgia Power has its way, consumers will pay an average of $8 more a month on their electric bills come January.

The state’s largest utility company has petitioned state regulators for permission to raise rates by 6.1 percent — a proposed $482 million — as well as to levy a substantial monthly fee for solar power users. Also included in the 2013 Rate Case is an increase in Georgia Power’s guaranteed profit from 11.15 percent to 11.5 percent, representing tens of millions of dollars for the company.

The proposal has drawn ire from activists, who have organized a series of town hall meetings around the state to educate the public on what they say is an egregious request.

Read the whole article: Connect Savannah

stopcwip.com

Repeal Georgia Nuclear Tax