Georgia Power has reached a proposed agreement with Georgia Public Service Commission staff and several intervening parties over how much the utility can recover from ratepayers for the remaining costs of the Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 nuclear expansion. If commissioners adopt the agreement, it would resolve the outstanding issues in the project's prudency review.
Alongside the cost recovery deal, Georgia Power agreed to a plan with regulatory staff to hold base power rates steady through the end of 2028, though customer bills could still see some movement during 2026. The combination is intended to provide rate stability for customers after years of cost increases tied to the project.
The Vogtle expansion has a long and costly history. Originally scheduled to conclude in 2016 and 2017, the project encountered a series of delays that pushed its cost to more than double the roughly 14 billion dollars anticipated when the Georgia commission approved construction in 2009. Unit 3 entered commercial operation on July 31, 2023, and Unit 4 on April 29, 2024.
With both new units running, Plant Vogtle now ranks as the largest single generator of electricity in the country. The facility, operated by Georgia Power and Southern Company at Waynesboro in Burke County, has become a reference point in national debates over the cost, schedule, and value of building large reactors. The cost recovery settlement marks a step toward closing the financial chapter of the construction effort.
Source: American Nuclear Society - https://www.ans.org/news/article-5327/georgia-power-psc-staff-reach-deal-on-vogtle-project-recovery-costs/