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Open your wallet: Electric rates already moving higher to finance new nuclear power

Open your wallet: Electric rates already moving higher to finance new nuclear powerBy: Washington Post Examiner MARK WILLIAMSAssociated Press 06/21/09 8:30 PM EDTCOLUMBUS, OHIO — A ghost from the nuclear industry’s early years has reappeared.It is not public apprehension about safety or disposal issues this time, but the staggering cost of building nuclear reactors.A wave of new reactors now in the works is intended to solve at least part of the nation’s energy problems as it attempts to shift away from fossil fuels. But cost is likely to plague every upcoming nuclear project.This month in Missouri the first of the next generation reactors was put on hold because of the $6 billion price tag.Whether or not AmerenUE’s Missouri reactor was a casualty of the current economic climate, the legal fight in several states shows how big the cost hurdle will be.Some states have altered laws so that consumers begin footing the bill now, even before construction begins. Missouri did not…………………………………………cost, critics say, is a too great and there are better ways to power homes.

“It is so phenomenally costly that it crowds out capital needed for energy efficiency and renewable energy,” said Mark Haim of Missourians for Safe Energy, a group that has been fighting Ameren’s plans.

Yet Republican lawmakers in Washington want more government funding for nuclear power……………………

The nuclear energy industry lobbied hard for $50 billion worth of federal loan guarantees, but that was stripped from the stimulus bill.

So states are revamping laws to help raise money………………………

Utilities say allowing them to charge consumers before reactors are built, rather than after, will save hundreds of millions in financing costs, which would also have to be paid by consumers.

In Georgia, customers of Georgia Power, a subsidiary of the Southern Co., will pay $1.30 extra a month beginning in 2011. However, to cover the cost of two new nuclear reactors that will cost $14 billion, consumers will be paying an extra $9.10 a month by 2017.

Because the utility is allowed to collect money before the plants are on line, rates will increase by 9 percent, compared with the 12 percent they would jump if rates were raised only after completion, the company said.

Open your wallet: Electric rates already moving higher to finance new nuclear power | Washington Examiner

June 21, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, radioactive