Dive Summary:
- Mississippi Power's Kemper coal plant project, now in its final year of construction, has become the target of the Sierra Club's ire.
- Mississippi Power has said it will not pass Kemper's cost overruns on to customers, but the Sierra Club has filed a motion with the Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) to prevent the utility from doing so. The Sierra Club believes the utility wants the PSC to offer it a "blank check" to recoup its costs.
- Mississippi Power is currently up against a "prudency review" the Mississippi PSC is conducting to investigate if the utility exercised reasonable judgment in going after the Kemper project, which has cost $3.42 billion compared to an initial estimate of $2.8 billion due.
From the article:
"While we are disappointed that costs have increased, we believe we have done the right thing by remaining accountable to our customers," said Ed Day, president and CEO of Mississippi Power. "Equally important is keeping the promise we made in the settlement agreement with the Mississippi Public Service Commission to limit the total rate base for the plant to $2.4 billion, net of Department of Energy grants and cost cap exceptions."
