Two years after Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 entered commercial service, the project's costs continue to shape Georgia utility regulation and the national conversation about new nuclear construction. Georgia Power has agreed to a plan with Georgia Public Service Commission staff to hold base power rates steady through the end of 2028, though customer bills could still rise in 2026 through other rate mechanisms.
The Vogtle expansion, the first new US reactors built from the ground up in a generation, was originally scheduled for completion in 2016 and 2017. Delays pushed the final cost to more than double the $14 billion estimate the PSC approved in 2009. Regulators voted late last year to allow Georgia Power to recover almost $7.6 billion of the project's costs from customers, a decision that raises the average residential bill by $8.95 per month.
The two units now anchor Georgia's baseload generation at the Waynesboro site southeast of Augusta, producing carbon free power around the clock as the state absorbs rapid load growth from data centers and manufacturing. Utilities and regulators in other states continue to study the project's cost history as they weigh new reactor construction, while Georgia's experience feeds directly into PSC proceedings on how future generation investments will be financed.
Source: The Current - https://thecurrentga.org/2026/05/12/two-years-after-completion-plant-vogtle-still-looms-over-the-nuclear-debate/