Georgia Power has agreed to a plan with state regulatory staff to hold base electricity rates steady through the end of 2028, even as the utility continues recovering costs tied to the expansion of Plant Vogtle. Vogtle's two newest reactors, completed in 2023 and 2024 respectively, added roughly 2,200 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity to Georgia Power's system, bringing the plant's four-reactor total to about 4,800 megawatts serving more than 1 million homes and businesses daily.
The rate agreement comes as Georgia's largest utility faces growing electricity demand from data centers and other large industrial customers across the state, a trend regulators and utility planners point to as justification for maintaining and expanding nuclear capacity alongside natural gas and renewable additions. Vogtle, located roughly 180 miles from Atlanta near Waynesboro in Burke County, remains the only new nuclear construction completed in the United States in more than three decades.
Georgia Power's parent company, Southern Company, has cited Vogtle's completion as evidence that large nuclear projects can still be finished in the U.S. despite years of cost overruns and schedule delays during construction. State regulators continue to monitor the plant's operating performance and cost recovery through periodic rate case proceedings before the Georgia Public Service Commission.
Source: CoStar - https://www.costar.com/article/1235417679/georgia-plant-shows-nuclear-energys-potential-and-risks-in-meeting-ai-power-demand