Florida regulators approve nuclear cost recovery for FP&L, PEF

Boston (Platts)--26Nov2012/408 pm EST/2108 GMT


The Florida Public Service Commission on Monday unanimously approved the recovery of $151 million in nuclear project costs for Florida Power & Light and $143 million in costs for Progress Energy Florida.

At a hearing, the PSC agreed with its staff that FP&L's plan to build two Westinghouse AP1000 units at its Turkey Point station in Miami-Dade County remains feasible, as does PEF's plan to build two nuclear units at a greenfield site in Levy County. Neither utility has committed to building the units, although both are pursuing combined construction and operating licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The PSC also continued to back FP&L's nearly completed plan to "uprate" the total capacity of its four existing nuclear units -- two at Turkey Point and two at St. Lucie -- by at least 490 MW.

The PSC rejected Southern Alliance for Clean Energy challenges to FP&L's and PEF's plans to build new nuclear units.

SACE argued that the projects are not economically justifiable because of low natural gas prices and the rising cost of nuclear construction, but the PSC said it agrees with the utilities and commission staff that the projects would still make sense, should FP&L and PEF decide to build them.

Nuclear cost recovery will result in a $1.69/month charge on the bill of a typical FP&L residential customer using 1,000 kWh/month, and a $4.79/month charge on the bill of a similar PEF customer, the PSC said. The charges go into effect in January.

--Housley Carr, newsdesk@platts.com --Edited by Valarie Jackson, valarie_jackson@platts.com

 

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