An increasingly popular incentive lets utilities bill customers for unfinished projects—the backlash is building, too. (Reuters)
The mechanism: Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) lets utilities recover financing costs for power plants and transmission before they come online. Over 40 states now allow some form of it—2X more than a decade ago. Last year, Missouri reversed a five-decade CWIP ban, and AR, KS, OK, and NC have all adopted pro-CWIP provisions since 2024.
The wake-up call: GA households have paid roughly $1K each in CWIP charges since 2009 toward the long-delated Vogtle reactors, which cost more than 2X the original estimate. Last Nov., GA voters unseated two Republican PSC commissioners due to the cost overruns.