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Friday, September 25, 2009
Ind. Gov't. - "Panel ponders nuclear plant rates: Utilities want to charge customers from project onset"
Updating these two entries (9/13 and 9/14) on the then-upcoming meeting of the legislative Regulatory Flexability Committee, Niki Kelly of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has this report on Tuesday's meeting - some quotes:
As the nuclear industry prepares to ramp up construction nationwide, Indiana legislators considered Tuesday whether to allow utilities to recoup some project costs from customers years before a reactor is in operation.House and Senate members heard testimony about an incentive known as “construction work in progress,” whereby utilities can charge ratepayers for interest costs on the overall project from the beginning.
When a plant is up and running, the utility can start recovering the actual construction costs though the existing regulatory structure.
In Indiana, charging ratepayers for construction work in progress is allowed only for “clean coal” power plants that release less carbon dioxide than conventional plants.
Rep. Win Moses, D-Fort Wayne, and Sen. Jim Merritt, R-Indianapolis, co-chaired the Tuesday meeting of the Regulatory Flexibility Committee. Moses opposes the measure; Merritt supports it. They said there are no formal applications to build a nuclear power plant in Indiana but that American Electric Power might have interest in adding to its Cook Nuclear Plant along Lake Michigan’s eastern shoreline.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 25, 2009 09:38 AM
Posted to Indiana Government