Percentage of power from proposed new nuclear reactors in Georgia would go out of state

The Georgia Public Service Commission on Wednesday resumes a second round of hearings into whether Georgia Power should raise its rates sooner, rather than later.

The increase would pay for two new proposed nuclear reactors near Waynesboro to generate more electricity for Georgia.

The reactors at the Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant would generate enough electricity for 1.4 million homes.

Georgia Power's key argument for the reactors...demand for electricity in Georgia is increasing with the state's population.

Georgia Power is the majority owner of Vogtle. It owns nearly half the plant. The company wants to increase the rates of its customers beginning in 2011, when construction could start if all goes as planned with federal regulators.

But not all the power from Vogtle will stay in Georgia.

Another one of Vogtle's owners, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG), would sell about 65 percent of the power it receives from Vogtle to electricity suppliers in Alabama and Florida.

That means about 15 percent of Vogtle's new power generation would go out of state.

"Because the (reactors) are built in large blocs, and you receive that resource in a large bloc, and our load changes incrementally over time, it allows us to grow into that resource over time," says Steve Jackson, a vice president at MEAG.

Jackson says the sale will happen for the first 20 years that Vogtle is in service. He expects MEAG's consumers will save money as a result.

MEAG does not plan to charge extra for power to finance construction of the two reactors until after construction is completed.

Environmental groups opposing the plan, though, have questioned whether there's enough demand in Georgia to justify the two nuclear reactors.

"It makes it very confusing to Georgians whether we need these new reactors right now in Georgia," says Sara Barczak, a spokeswoman for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "We're using a lot of Georgia's resources to provide air conditioners and power tv's in Alabama and Florida. I don't think a lot of people would be too excited about that."

Georgia Power says all of its share of power will serve only customers in Georgia.

It's hoping an incremental increase in rates during construction, instead of after, will save billions of dollars in interest.

That rate increase would cost the average homeowner about $109 more a year by 2018...but Georgia Power says waiting to increase rates will cost about $30 a year more.

The new reactors would nearly double the amount of power generated at the plant.