nuclear-news

In the comments filed with state regulators, the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council argue that Dominion Virginia Power should stop spending money on a potential new plant because it will unfairly burden the company’s customers while enriching its investors.

“The rich get richer and the ratepayers get poorer,” said Mark Cooper, a senior fellow for economic analysis with the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School who was hired by the VCCC as an expert witness……..

The attorney general’s office estimates that the cost of building North Anna 3, which wouldn’t be completed until 2029, would raise residential rates by 25 percent.

The Virginia State Corporation Commission’s three commissioners would have to give approval for Dominion to build North Anna 3. If approved, the company would be guaranteed a profit on all reasonable and prudent construction costs.

Cooper said the potentially large and steady cash flow from building North Anna 3 is what entices Dominion to continue to pursue the project. But he said customers would unfairly have to pay at least $6 billion more than is necessary to comply with potential federal emission rules. That would rank the project as “one of the grossest examples of enrichment by a utility” in the “entire history of energy production,” Cooper said. ………https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-group-says-new-nuclear-plant-would-be-boondoggle/2016/07/12/67986070-485e-11e6-8dac-0c6e4accc5b1_story.html?postshare=491468349029908&tid=ss_tw