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Florida’s new nuclear plants delayed – perhaps forever

Doubts cloud nuclear pay plan,Utility Products, Power Industry News, BY IVAN PENN, 14 Aug 11,  Since 2009, Progress Energy customers have been paying for a nuclear plant that will not generate a kilowatt of power until 2016. Wait, make that 2018. Well, maybe 2021.

Now, more dismaying news. State consumer advocates say they have evidence the plant won’t open until 2027. Indeed, they openly wonder if the plant will ever be built.

This week, the state Office of Public Counsel, which represents consumers in utility matters, will argue that, given the uncertainty over the plant’s future, customers’ advance payments should be cut in half…….

Central to his case: a confidential 2010 Progress Energy status report on the proposed plant in Levy County. Virtually all of the report is being kept secret from the public. Before giving a copy to state officials, the utility redacted almost everything of substance – leaving behind provocative details like the word “Levy” in close proximity to the date 2027…..

If the Public Counsel’s Office prevails, Progress customers might soon get some relief from advance payments that for the average customer would reach $50 a month by 2020.

But they should not get their hopes up. The law that allows Progress to charge its customers for a nonexistent power plant is stacked against them.

In the spring of 2006, the Florida Legislature passed the law allowing advance charges. The idea was to meet the needs of a then-growing, power-hungry economy and speed up the process of getting a plant online. (Not all states have such a law; North Carolina, where Progress also operates, forbids advance charges for nuclear plants.)……..

http://www.utilityproducts.com/news/2011/08/1478674934/doubts-cloud-nuclear-pay-plan.html

August 15, 2011 - Posted by | business and costs, USA

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