nuclear-news

Florida rebellion of ratepayers against “Nuclear Cost Recovery”

Florida AARP joins suit to overturn nuclear fees to utilities, Tampa Bay Times, By Ivan Penn, Times    April 13, 2012 Florida’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit senior organization joined a lawsuit Thursday to overturn a state law that requires utility customers to pay in advance for new nuclear plants.

In opposing the advance nuclear fee, the Florida AARP said many of its members already face difficulty meeting rising utility costs on their low and fixed incomes. To add fees for proposed nuclear plants that might never get built, the organization said, is an undue burden. “During this period of economic hardship, the rising cost to provide current electric utility service is severe enough to raise alarm,” the AARP stated in a brief to the Florida Supreme Court.

The AARP submitted the brief in support of a lawsuit filed by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, an advocate for energy efficiency and clean energy…..
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/florida-aarp-joins-suit-to-overturn-nuclear-fees-to-utilities/1224791

The new Florida reactor projects are clearly in trouble, plagued with cost overruns and expensive delays. This increases the likelihood that the projects will not be completed, 

Officials: Backlash Spreading in Florida Against “Nuclear Cost Recovery” Financing Scheme for Proposed Reactors Unlikely to Ever Be Built Market Watch,  JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — No Refund Rip-off for Consumers: Bipartisan Filings in Legal Challenge Before the Florida Supreme Court and Growing Local Opposition Spells Big Trouble For Tapping Ratepayers for 4 Nuclear Reactors That Are Unneeded, Unaffordable and Unsafe.

Florida ratepayers are not rolling over for the major utilities that want to pick their wallets in advance for new nuclear reactors that may never actually be constructed.

State and local officials made it clear today that bipartisan opposition continues to grow in Florida to the controversial use of so-called “nuclear cost recovery” (NCR) to force ratepayers in the state to pay in advance for costs associated with four Progress Energy
of Florida (PEF) and Florida Power & Light (FPL) nuclear reactors that are increasingly unlikely to ever be built.

In a news conference featuring a bipartisan group of state and local
officials, the following developments were highlighted:

Clear bipartisan support now exists at the state level against use of
“nuclear cost recovery” as evidenced by the briefs filed by both
Democratic and Republican state lawmakers, including initial
supporters of NCR: Republican State Senators Mike Fasano and Charles
Dean, Sr.
A growing number of local anti-nuclear cost recovery resolutions,
which began with the Village of Pinecrest (located near FPL’s proposed
Turkey Point reactors), are now spreading across the state, including
multiple municipalities in PEF and FPL service territories, including
the Miami-Dade League of Cities, Yankeetown and Crestview, among
others.

Both major utilities are running scared; they know their controversial
reactor projects are in trouble. They have “brought out the big guns,”
enlisting former FL Supreme Court justices as part of their legal
team.

The new Florida reactor projects are clearly in trouble, plagued with cost overruns and expensive delays. This increases the likelihood that the projects will not be completed, which will be even more onerous to
ratepayers since NCR costs paid by the ratepayers are not subject to
refunds.

The speakers discussed their “Friends of the Court” briefs supporting
the legal challenge by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE)
to the constitutionality of the controversial pre-payment statute
before the Florida Supreme Court.

State Senator Mike Fasano said: “I believe that it is inherently
unfair for utilities to shift the risk to their customers, our
constituents, to front the costs of massive and expensive construction
projects that are not even guaranteed to be completed. These dicey
investments ought to be the responsibility of utility shareholders and
their investment partners who profit from them, not the average
ratepayer who is already struggling to pay their monthly utility bill
or keep their business afloat. In Florida, allowing utilities to
recover the costs of a new nuclear power plant before the plant was
even placed in service has been unfair to consumers and bad public
policy.”….
PEF has proposed two new reactors in Levy County, Florida with an
estimated cost of $22.5 billion and FPL has proposed two additional
reactors at their existing Turkey Point nuclear plant near Miami with
an estimated cost approaching $20 billion. Both proposals are more
than a decade from completion, if they are ever built, and have
experienced repeated cost increases and scheduling delays. Ratepayers
would not receive a refund if either utility abandons the projects….
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/officials-backlash-spreading-in-florida-against-nuclear-cost-recovery-financing-scheme-for-proposed-reactors-unlikely-to-ever-be-built-2012-04-12

April 13, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA