nuclear-news

Utility’s mistakes might be ours to pay http://www.ajc.com/news/opinion/readers-write-may/rlDY9xschJoqXhxcIRO6LL/, DON MCADAM, SANDY SPRINGS, 2 May 17 

Ratepayers in Georgia paid in advance for Georgia Power’s multibillion-dollar gamble on two new nuclear reactors at plant Vogtle. We were told at the time that it was in our best interest to pay up front. But much of the money we paid up front actually was realized as profit for shareholders. Maybe that helps explain why Southern Company’s stock price has risen about 60 percent since work began in 2009.

In December of last year, the Public Service Commission decided that ratepayers should pay for almost all of the accumulated overages. Those overcharges amounted to billions of dollars. And now, the entire project might be scrapped. The PSC’s Tim Echols jumps into action. According to Echols, someone other than Georgia Power should pay for Georgia Power’s mistakes. Ratepayers should never have had to pay for this fiasco. Maybe Echols finally realizes this. So now he’s begging for a bailout from our federal government.