MO Governor Opposes Legislation for Nuclear Plant

February 27, 2009

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says he doesn't think a law should be changed this year to help AmerenUE build a second nuclear power plant.Under current law, Missouri utilities must wait until a new power
plant is online before charging electric customers for the cost of
building it. The Legislature is considering a bill that would let them
charge for the capital costs during construction.
The effort to change a law approved by voters in 1976 comes after
St. Louis-based AmerenUE filed an application to build and operate a
second mid-Missouri nuclear power plant. The utility hasn't yet
decided whether to go forward, but contends that it needs the ability
to charge customers during construction to secure private financing
for the estimated $6 billion project.
Nixon, a Democrat, told St. Louis radio station KMOX that
AmerenUE should first get the necessary permits before focusing on
financing.
"I think that we need to be very careful, especially in these
economic times, that we aren't putting additional stress on families
out there and their heating bills and their cooling bills and all that
for something that might happen in the future," Nixon said.
Legislation designed to help AmerenUE has backing by both
Republicans and Democrats, but the criticism of the bills also has
been bipartisan.
Consumer activists and some environmentalists believe customers
shouldn't be billed until new plants come online. Utilities, and a
coalition of labor and cleaner power advocates, contend that companies
can't afford to build the billion-dollar plants without recouping
costs during construction.
Missouri AFL-CIO President Hugh McVey said in a written statement
released Friday to The Associated Press that lawmakers should continue
negotiating and try to get the bill passed this year.
"The passage of this legislation and the construction of this
plant will move our state in the right direction," McVey said. "While
there is still time for compromise, there is not time for delay."
The Missouri Energy Development Association, a trade group for
investor-owned utilities such as Ameren, estimates that residential
customers would pay 1 percent to 3 percent more per year and just over
10 percent for the entire project, if AmerenUE builds a second nuclear
plant about 25 miles from Jefferson City. Those assumptions are based
on a six-year construction project, with rural electric cooperatives
and municipal utilities partially buying into the plant.
But some critics of the legislation estimate that electric rate
increases could be significantly higher. Missouri Public Counsel Lewis
Mills, who advocates for consumers before state utility regulators,
has said that he expects rate increases will be at least double
Ameren's estimates.
Information from KMOX: http://www.kmox.com