Georgia Power’s Vogtle plant has come under fire since construction began in 2009. A new report criticizes the role of the Georgia Public Utilities Commission in allowing the nuclear plant to move forward. He also questions the plant’s impact on consumers.
Georgia Power customers may see up to a 10% increase in their energy bills this year. Patty Durand says this increase will help cover the plant’s $37 billion cost, including $20 billion in cost overruns.
Durand is the founder of the energy consulting group Cool Planet Solutions and is a co-author of the study. According to her, the Vogtle plant is the most expensive energy production plant in the world. What led to the high price?
“Among the reasons is that there was a lot of incompetence and inappropriate management decisions on the part of Southern Company and Southern Nuclear and Georgia Power. In fact, the cost overruns were so extreme that the main contractor, Westinghouse, went bankrupt in 2017.”
2017 was an important year for Plant Vogtle for another reason: The elected Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) allowed construction of the plant to move forward, despite warnings from its staff against it. Durand claims that the PSC is engaged in something called regulatory capture.
“There are many problems with the Georgia PSC not regulating in the public interest. Some of the problems include the fact that commissioners are political appointees. “They don’t bring any energetic experience to the role.”
Additionally, Durand says none of the utility commissioners are Georgia Power customers. So-
“We don’t have any representation to protect us from whatever Georgia Power wants.”
The rate increase Durand says Plant Vogtle is pushing for could have deadly consequences. Energy poverty, or when households are unable to access essential energy services, could be exacerbated in the state.
“We’re not talking about sitting in the dark when someone loses their power. We are talking about very serious consequences. For example, someone could lose their children. DFACs will not allow parents to have children in a home without electricity. They could be evicted. Worse yet, someone could die in the brutal summer heat in Georgia.”
Despite the high costs of the Vogtle plant, those responsible for the energy sector are betting on nuclear energy. At a recent press conference at the plant, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm called for the United States to triple its nuclear capacity. Durand is very critical of this objective.
“Granholm is up there asking for reactors to be tripled without knowing how much they cost. How can he sleep at night when he calls for such an expensive energy source that will hurt taxpayers at large when there are so many more affordable options available?
Granholm, however, suggested passing the costs of nuclear energy onto energy-intensive corporations rather than everyday consumers.
This article comes to Now Habersham in association with WUGA
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