Florida Public Service Commission Approves Deferring Nuclear Cost Recovery from FPL Customers to 2017
Proposed New Reactors at Turkey Point Face Increasing Costs and Delays
Contact: Jennifer Rennicks, SACE, [email protected], 865-235-1448
Miami, Fla. (July 7, 2016) – Today the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) approved Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) request to defer consideration of its 2016 nuclear cost recovery clause to 2017. The utility had asked for an additional $22 million from their customers this year for its increasingly speculative proposed nuclear reactors at their Turkey Point facility near Homestead.
The company filed a motion to be relieved of submitting a feasibility study, as required by PSC rules, to justify that reactors were economically feasible. The parties, including Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), filed responses objecting to the motion.
In light of this opposition, FPL filed yet another motion to have its issues deferred until 2017 at which time it would provide a feasibility analysis.
While not objecting to the deferment, SACE’s June 30thPrehearing Statement made it clear that the burden remains with FPL to prove that any dollars spent on the reactors and recovered from customers must be based on a finding that the reactors are economically feasible.
All power companies, including FPL, that seek to recover costs from their customers in advance for new nuclear power generation projects have been required to submit a feasibility study to the Commission to prove that continued investment in the reactors is a good deal for customers. This requirement is especially important as the controversial 2006 early cost recovery law shifted all the financial risk of construction activities from shareholder to customers. Over $282 million customer dollars have already been sunk into FPL’s speculative reactor project at Turkey Point that will likely never be built.
In response to today’s Commission decision to allow deferment to 2017, SACE Florida Energy Policy Attorney, George Cavros issued this statement:
“It is clear that FPL could not prove this year that its proposed nuclear reactors were a good deal for customers. It’s good news that customers will not be throwing away another $22 million dollars of good money after bad, but the burden remains on FPL in future proceedings to prove that any dollars spent on the project were based on a feasibility analysis. We remain extremely concerned that hundreds of millions of dollars have already been collected from FPL’s customers for reactors that will likely never be built. A deferment is a step in the right direction, but ultimately customers will only truly be protected if FPL admits that the Turkey Point expansion project is uneconomical and stops wasting their customers’ limited financial resources.”
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Founded in 1985, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is a nonprofit organization that promotes responsible energy choices that work to address the impacts of global climate change and ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Learn more at www.cleanenergy.org