TUCKER, Ga., Sept. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Citing ever
increasing costs, Oglethorpe Power today announced that it
submitted a conditional vote in support of completion of the
project in Burke County, Ga.
Oglethorpe's condition in support of the project includes
several cost-control options, such as one scenario in which there
is a cap at the current project budget (inclusive of the
$2.3 billion budget increase) but
allows for an additional $800 million
to be added to the contingency, raising it to $1.6 billion. Oglethorpe holds a 30 percent stake in the
project.
Since commencement of work on Vogtle 3 and 4 over a decade ago,
the project's partners have faced an ongoing series of cost
increases. The latest, as Southern Company now projects, is an
additional $2.3 billion since
December 2017. Collectively, the
overruns have expanded Oglethorpe's share of the project's budget
from an initial estimate of $4.2
billion to approximately $7.25
billion.
With four years remaining on the construction schedule,
Oglethorpe sought to protect
electric cooperatives, and their rural energy consumers, and hold
Southern Company accountable for its newly revised budget and let
their owners be responsible for any additional amounts beyond this
level.
"We are hopeful that the Southern Company will agree with a
proposal to protect our rural energy consumers in Georgia who should not be responsible for
excessive future increases in the costs of this project," said
Mike Smith, president and CEO of
Oglethorpe Power. "The Southern Company directly owns and controls
Southern Nuclear Corporation (SNC), which has control of the site
and project oversight of Vogtle 3 and 4. As SNC's owner, Southern
Company should be willing to bear further risk of SNC's missed
budgets, not our members."
According to Smith, Oglethorpe Power and its member EMCs believe
in nuclear power as a reliable source of clean, carbon-free
electric generation that could benefit the region for 60 to 80
years. However, they recognize it would not be in their electric
consumers' best interests to continue building a project with
uncapped, unchecked expenses.
"Capping our costs, and by extension the costs borne by our EMC
members, is a reasonable request and a prudent business decision
that would allow the project to move forward," Smith added.
About Oglethorpe Power:
Oglethorpe Power has
approximately $11 billion in assets
serving 38 Electric Membership Corporations which, collectively,
provide electricity to approximately 4.1 million Georgia residents. A proponent of
conscientious energy development and use, Oglethorpe Power balances
reliable and affordable energy with environmental responsibility
and has an outstanding record of regulatory compliance. Its diverse
energy portfolio includes natural gas, hydroelectric, coal and
nuclear generating plants with a combined capacity of approximately
7,800 megawatts. Oglethorpe Power was established in 1974 and is
owned by its 38 Member Systems. Its headquarters are in
Tucker, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb.
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SOURCE Oglethorpe Power Corporation