3-5-2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013...News&feedType=RSS&feedName=companyNews&rpc=43
Southern Co utility to raise rates 15 percent for Mississippi coal plant
State regulators approved a 15 percent rate increase for customers of Southern Co's Mississippi Power unit on Tuesday to allow the utility to begin recovering costs for a controversial coal-gasification power plant under construction in Kemper County.
The 582-megawatt Kemper County plant is one of only two integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) plants being built in the country. The project was initially expected to cost about $2 billion, but the price tag now is expected to reach $3.5 billion.
Other rate action taken on Tuesday by the Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) will temper the jump to about 12 percent to 13 percent, or roughly $16 per month for a customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of power, beginning with April bills.
Monthly bills will rise another 3 percent next year.
Mississippi Power sought an annual increase of $172 million, or a 21 percent rate increase, but the commission trimmed that amount to $125 million this year.
The Mississippi utility is Southern Co's smallest with just 186,000 customers, so the rate impact of the costly Kemper facility is of concern to regulators and consumer groups.
Last month, the Mississippi Legislature approved a bill to allow the utility to sell up to $1 billion of "securitized" bonds to cover Kemper costs over and above the $2.8 billion the utility can recover through base rates.
The cost of the bonds will add another 3 percent to 5 percent to monthly bills depending on the interest rate at which they are sold, Moses Feagan, Mississippi Power's chief financial officer told the commission.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013...News&feedType=RSS&feedName=companyNews&rpc=43
Southern Co utility to raise rates 15 percent for Mississippi coal plant
State regulators approved a 15 percent rate increase for customers of Southern Co's Mississippi Power unit on Tuesday to allow the utility to begin recovering costs for a controversial coal-gasification power plant under construction in Kemper County.
The 582-megawatt Kemper County plant is one of only two integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) plants being built in the country. The project was initially expected to cost about $2 billion, but the price tag now is expected to reach $3.5 billion.
Other rate action taken on Tuesday by the Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) will temper the jump to about 12 percent to 13 percent, or roughly $16 per month for a customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of power, beginning with April bills.
Monthly bills will rise another 3 percent next year.
Mississippi Power sought an annual increase of $172 million, or a 21 percent rate increase, but the commission trimmed that amount to $125 million this year.
The Mississippi utility is Southern Co's smallest with just 186,000 customers, so the rate impact of the costly Kemper facility is of concern to regulators and consumer groups.
Last month, the Mississippi Legislature approved a bill to allow the utility to sell up to $1 billion of "securitized" bonds to cover Kemper costs over and above the $2.8 billion the utility can recover through base rates.
The cost of the bonds will add another 3 percent to 5 percent to monthly bills depending on the interest rate at which they are sold, Moses Feagan, Mississippi Power's chief financial officer told the commission.
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