ATLANTA, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power announced today that it
received no bids in response to its 2016-2017 base load capacity request
for proposals (RFP). Two weeks ago, after it signed an Engineering,
Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with Westinghouse Electric
Company LLC and The Shaw Group Inc.'s Power Group, Georgia Power announced
that it would submit a nuclear self-build option for consideration. Georgia
Public Service Commission (PSC) rules require market bids to be compared
with self-build proposals, but no market bids were received.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050216/CLW066LOGO )
The company's self-build nuclear proposal will be reviewed by the
Georgia PSC's Independent Evaluator before the company submits a final
recommendation to the Georgia PSC on August 1, 2008 for approval. A final
certification decision is expected in March 2009.
If certified by the Georgia PSC and licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC), the two Westinghouse AP1000 units, with a capacity of
1,100 megawatts each, would be constructed at the Vogtle Electric
Generating Plant site near Waynesboro, Georgia and would be placed in
service in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
Under the EPC contract, the Vogtle co-owners (Georgia Power, Oglethorpe
Power, MEAG Power, and Dalton Utilities) will pay a purchase price that
will be subject to certain price escalation and adjustments, as well as
adjustments for change orders and performance bonuses. The estimated plant
value to be placed in service also includes the financing costs for each
co-owner, transmission and other costs that are the responsibility of the
co-owners, and expected inflation costs.
Under the terms of a separate joint development agreement, the
co-owners must finalize their ownership percentages by July 2, 2008 except
for allowed changes, under certain limited circumstances, during the
Georgia PSC certification process. Georgia Power's proportionate share of
the estimated in-service cost of the two units, based on its current
ownership interest of 45.7 percent, is approximately $6.4 billion, subject
to adjustments and performance bonuses under the EPC contract.
While the final rate impacts will be determined by the Georgia PSC, the
company estimates the typical Georgia Power customer, using 1,000
kilowatt-hours a month, would see a base rate increase of approximately $12
per month in 2018, when both units are fully operational. The rate impact
is expected to decline over time.
"Demand for electricity continues to grow in the Southeast and in
Georgia," said Mike Garrett, Georgia Power president and CEO. "While we
will continue to increase our emphasis on energy efficiency and renewable
energy sources, we must also add large-scale base load generation to meet
growing energy needs. While nuclear power plants cost more to build, they
now have lower fuel and operating costs than fossil fuel plants. Nuclear
energy would add needed diversity to Georgia Power's fuel mix at a time
when fossil fuel prices are increasing significantly."
"The company will work with the Georgia PSC's Independent Evaluator,
Accion Group, to finalize information required for certification, including
updated fossil fuel and generation technology costs," said Oscar Harper,
Georgia Power's vice president of nuclear development and resource
planning.
Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of The Southern Company (NYSE:
SO), one of the nation's largest generators of electricity. The company is
an investor-owned, tax-paying utility with rates well below the national
average. Georgia Power serves 2.3 million customers in all but four of
Georgia's 159 counties.
Oglethorpe Power Corporation is a $4.9 billion power supply cooperative
serving 38 consumer-owned EMCs in Georgia. These EMCs provide retail
electric service to approximately 4.1 million Georgians. Oglethorpe Power
is the nation's largest electric cooperative in assets, annual
kilowatt-hour sales, and ultimate consumers served.
The Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) is a public
generation and transmission organization providing power to 49 Georgia
communities with annual electric sales of $721 million and over 10 million-
megawatt hours of delivered energy in 2006.
Dalton Utilities has operated as a public utility since 1889 and
provides potable water, electrical, natural gas and wastewater treatment
services to approximately 65,000 customers in the City of Dalton and
portions of Whitfield, Murray, Gordon, Catoosa and Floyd counties. In 2003,
Dalton Utilities launched OptiLink and now provides broadband, cable TV,
telephone and internet services to residential and business customers.
Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary of Southern Company, operates Plant
Vogtle's two existing nuclear power units for the plant owners. Southern
Nuclear also operates the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley, Ga. and
the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant near Dothan, Ala.
Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation,
is the world's pioneering nuclear power company and is a leading supplier
of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the
world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first Pressurized Water Reactor
(PWR) in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa. Today, Westinghouse technology is the
basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants,
including 60 percent of those in the United States.
The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SGR), a 20 percent owner of Westinghouse
Electric Company, is a leading global provider of technology, engineering,
procurement, construction, maintenance, fabrication, manufacturing,
consulting, remediation and facilities management services for government
and private sector clients in the energy, chemicals, environmental,
infrastructure and emergency response markets. A Fortune 500 company with
fiscal 2008 revenues expected to exceed $7 billion, Shaw is headquartered
in Baton Rouge, La., and employs approximately 27,000 people at its offices
and operations in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and
the Asia-Pacific region. For further information, please visit Shaw's Web
site at http://www.shawgrp.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain information contained in this release is forward-looking
information based on current expectations and plans that involve risks and
uncertainties. Forward-looking information includes, among other things,
statements concerning the timing of various regulatory and other actions,
plans and cost estimates for new generation resources for Georgia Power,
and demand for electricity. Southern Company and Georgia Power caution that
there are certain factors that can cause actual results to differ
materially from the forward-looking information that has been provided. The
reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on this forward-looking
information, which is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject
to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside
the control of Southern Company and Georgia Power; accordingly, there can
be no assurance that such suggested results will be realized. The following
factors, in addition to those discussed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended Dec. 31, 2007 of Southern Company and Georgia Power, and
subsequent securities filings, could cause results to differ materially
from management expectations as suggested by such forward-looking
information: the impact of recent and future federal and state regulatory
change, including legislative and regulatory initiatives regarding
deregulation and restructuring of the electric utility industry,
implementation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, environmental laws
including regulation of water quality and emissions of sulfur, nitrogen,
mercury, carbon, soot or particulate matter and other substances, and also
changes in tax and other laws and regulations to which Southern Company,
Georgia Power and any of their subsidiaries are subject, as well as changes
in application of existing laws and regulations; current and future
litigation, regulatory investigations, proceedings or inquiries, including
the pending EPA civil actions against certain Southern Company
subsidiaries, FERC matters, IRS audits and Mirant-related matters; the
effects, extent and timing of the entry of additional competition in the
markets in which Southern Company's or Georgia Power's subsidiaries
operate; variations in demand for electricity, including those relating to
weather, the general economy, population and business growth (and
declines), and the effects of energy conservation measures; available
sources and costs of fuel; effects of inflation; ability to control costs;
advances in technology; state and federal rate regulations and the impact
of pending and future rate cases and negotiations, including rate actions
relating to fuel and storm restoration cost recovery; regulatory approvals
related to the potential Plant Vogtle expansion, including Georgia Public
Service Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Commission approvals; potential
business strategies, including acquisitions or dispositions of assets or
businesses, which cannot be assured to be completed or beneficial to
Southern Company, Georgia Power, or any of their subsidiaries; the ability
of counterparties of Southern Company or Georgia Power to make payments as
and when due and to perform as required; the ability to obtain new short-
and long-term contracts with neighboring utilities; the direct or indirect
effect on Southern Company's or Georgia Power's business resulting from
terrorist incidents and the threat of terrorist incidents; interest rate
fluctuations and financial market conditions and the results of financing
efforts, including Southern Company's, Georgia Power's, and any of their
subsidiaries' credit ratings; the ability of Southern Company, Georgia
Power, and any of their subsidiaries to obtain additional generating
capacity at competitive prices; catastrophic events such as fires,
earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, droughts, pandemic health events such as
an avian influenza or other similar occurrences; the direct or indirect
effects on Southern Company's or Georgia Power's business resulting from
incidents similar to the August 2003 power outage in the Northeast; and the
effect of accounting pronouncements issued periodically by standard-
setting bodies. Southern Company and Georgia Power expressly disclaim any
obligation to update any forward-looking information.
SOURCE Georgia Power
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Related links:
http://www.georgiapower.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050216/CLW066LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Media Relations, Georgia Power,
+1-404-506-7676, or +1-800-282-1696
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