Almost without exception, when a commercial development project goes $17 billion over budget and seven years beyond deadline, the owners keep their heads down and hope no one notices. And with little or no trumpeting of it by those owners, the media yawns and moves along. But now, add to that, that this infrastructure project was--and will be for decades--financed by ratepayers who have essentially no control over how those failed project construction costs are foisted on them. And then, let's add that the two units of this project are now generating power at $160/MWh, many times what is fair and reasonable. This Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 project--totally mismanaged but then conveniently and falsely excused as a FOAK, First of a Kind, which it certainly was not--has left ratepayers holding the bag.
On August 1st, 2023, the associated local utility Georgia Power raised rates for residential and small business customers 7.8% to begin paying for costs for unit 3, and then on on May 1, 2024, Georgia Power raised rates for residential and small business customers 15.9% to begin paying for construction costs for Unit 4 and cost overruns for both reactors. These rate increases totaled an astonishing 25%, the largest rate increase in state history, for both reactors.
Vogtle Units 3 and 4 were not a true “first‑of‑a‑kind” failure; this disastrous project flowed from contractor bankruptcy, incompetent and some say corrupt management, regulatory/design changes, and near-total project‑management failures, while China’s Sanmen/Haiyang AP1000 series benefited from centralized program management, disciplined management, rigorous oversight, rapid learning, and factory transfers that cut schedules and costs. Georgia Power’s repeated and transparently-false “FOAK” defense obscures these managerial and contractual choices that shifted risk onto ratepayers and exposed total regulatory capture.
This is possibly the biggest ratepayer ripoff in decades, but I'll let Patty Durand's essay on Utility Dive speak for itself. For me, I am astonished and dismayed that even experienced, and one would assume, reasonably skeptical energy-business reporters have embraced "The Vogtle Disaster" as some kind of triumph. It is assuredly NOT. Astonishingly, even tone-deaf former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, one of President Biden's least capable cabinet choices (unless one views throwing billions at unproven technologies and unvetted projects as good policy), joined federal and state officials at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on site in Waynesboro, Georgia. There, she called for building 200 more gigawatts of reactors without mentioning the Vogtle’s $36 billion price tag, and years of delay, while attendees enjoyed cake shaped like nuclear reactors. I'm certain that Georgia ratepayers weren't celebrating; many of them can't even afford cake after paying their electric bills.
Patty Durand is founder of Georgians for Affordable Energy, a nonprofit advocating for fair utility rates and clean energy. In 2022 she was a candidate for the Georgia Public Service Commission, and she served as president of the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative from 2010-2020.
Let Them Eat Cake?
