(The Center Square) — Georgia Power has agreed to pay Oglethorpe Power roughly $413 million as part of an agreement to resolve a dispute over Plant Vogtle costs.
On Thursday, Georgia Power said it reached a deal with Oglethorpe Power, which sued Georgia Power in June 2022, to settle interpretations of the “cost-sharing and tender provisions of the joint ownership agreements” for Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4, the “first newly constructed nuclear units” built in the country in more than three decades.
Under the agreement outlined in an 8-K filing, Georgia Power will pay Oglethorpe Power $308 million for a portion of incurred construction costs and roughly $105 million for further construction costs. Georgia Power will also cover 66% of Oglethorpe Power’s construction costs above projected capital costs.
Georgia Power owns nearly half (45.7%) of Plant Vogtle. Oglethorpe Power, which serves 38 electric membership corporations across Georgia, owns 30%, while the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia owns 22.7%, and Dalton Utilities owns 1.6%.
According to the filing, Georgia Power expects a “charge to income” of roughly $152 million — $114 million after taxes. The settlement does not resolve a lawsuit the city of Dalton filed in September 2022, which Georgia Power said could result in $17 million of additional “pre-tax charges to income.”
Georgia Power reached a settlement with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia in September 2022.
According to Georgia Power, Unit 3 entered commercial operation on July 31, while loading fuel into the Unit 4 reactor began on Aug. 17. Unit 4 could enter service by either the end of the year or early next year.
In August, Georgia Power and the state’s Public Service Commission’s Public Interest Advocacy staff reached a deal over recovery costs for the units.
The deal caps recovery costs at more than $7.5 billion. According to Georgia Power, “average retail rates” would increase by roughly 5%, and “a typical resident customer using 1,000 kWh per month” could see their monthly bill increase by $8.95.
PSC commissioners must approve the deal.
By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor
