nuclear-news

South Carolina electricity customers slugged for Over-Budget Nuclear Project

SCE&G Customers Paying for Over-Budget Nuclear Project  Savannah Levins, WLTX September 2, 2015 COLUMBIA, SC (WLTX)– South Carolina Electric and Gas was approved to build two nuclear reactors back in 2009. The mission of the new devices: provide cleaner energy

The legislature, under the Baseload Review Act, agreed the company can increase customer bills every year to help pay for it. But now that the company is about a billion dollars over budget and years behind schedule, customers like environmental activist Tom Clements are getting frustrated.

“The rate payer, the customer, is saddled with 100% of the costs  and all the risk of the project, and at the end of the day we don’t own anything,” he said. “We’ve paid for everything, we’ve taken all the risk, and we don’t own anything. But that;s courtesy of the legislature that passed what i think is an unjust law.”

On Wednesday, the Public Service Commission approved SCE&G’s request for an additional one billion in today’s dollars, and a four year extension to complete the project.

SCE&G Spokesperson Eric Boomhower says another customer rate increase of 2.8% is set to take effect in the end of October, and will continue to increase each year until the project is complete……..

Company representatives predict customers will continue to see annual increases averaging 2.2% until the project is completed.

That completion date, originally set at 2016, was pushed back on Wednesday to 2020. http://www.wltx.com/story/news/local/2015/09/02/sceg-customers-paying-over-budget-nuclear-project/71608720/

September 4, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA