Duke Energy Absconds With the Public's $3B for Nuke Plants

[kristopher]

Sorry, no energy for your money.

Duke Energy to cancel proposed Levy County nuclear plant, Fasano says
Ivan Penn, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, August 1, 2013 12:51pm

<snip>

Duke, and its predecessor Progress Energy, have steadfastly supported the project, despite an ever ballooning price tag. When first proposed by Progress in 2006, the estimated cost was $4 billion to $6 billion with a completion date of 2016. Most recent estimates put the cost at almost $25 billion, coming online in 2024.

Under a controversial Florida law, consumers have been paying for Levy in advance of construction. Legislators promised the "advance fee'' would get nuclear projects built both faster and cheaper.

...

Thursday's announcement follows Duke's decision in February to mothball its existing nuclear plant in Crystal River. Progress broke that plant during a botched equipment upgrade in 2009. The advance fee forces Duke customers to pay for that upgrade as well.

The bottom line: Duke customers may end up paying roughly $3 billion for Crystal River and Levy.

The advance fee law does not require Duke to refund any of the money that has already been spent on the Levy project....

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/duke-energy-to-cancel-proposed-levy-county-nuclear-plant-fasano-says/2134287

[Finishline42]

1. Were's Dr Pam?

This is what I was talking about - all the anti-nuke protesters in the world are a spec of sand compared to the incompetent Nuclear Plant construction industry and the utilities that employ them.

[freshwest]

2. Voldemort scams again. The Bain method applied to taxpayers.

Wonder what the baggers will run with to keep their control of the state treasury..

[kristopher]

3. Here is the "rebuttal" to criticisms of the policy that allowed this to happen - CWIP

Construction Work In Progress - CWIP

Nuclear Energy Institute - NEI (This is a lobbying group similar to The Tobacco Institute and The Petroleum Institute)


http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-clear-case-for-cwip-rebuttal-to.html

[freshwest]

4. Commerical speech at its finest. It pays well to support corporate tyranny.

I admit I'm biased against nukes, so I have no patience for its apologists.

[kristopher]

5. The money quote from the NEI's defense of CWIP

...Cooper and his fellow anti-nuclear critics contend that CWIP allows utilities to collect costs without having to build the plant. Cooper’s paper claims that they can get halfway through the project, cancel it, and then collect the incurred costs of construction from ratepayers without having to pay anything. This is of course an erroneous view of how states govern projects.

Cooper’s paper cites an Iowa Utility Board analysis to make its case against CWIP. Last year, the Iowa legislature debated a bill that would allow CWIP which may have provided MidAmerican Energy the opportunity to build a nuclear plant in the state. The Iowa House passed the bill but the Senate didn’t act on it. There was much discussion about the issue and MidAmerican provided a short explanation of the bill (pdf). The explanation clearly states that the utility does not have the unilateral ability to cancel a project. State public service commissions must approve both the decision to build a plant, the decision to cancel one, and how much utilities can collect in rates based on the prudency of spending.

Cooper’s paper claims that CWIP puts all the risk on ratepayers. CWIP actually lowers the risks to ratepayers because it makes the projects more affordable to build, increasing the chance of successfully completing the project.

http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-clear-case-for-cwip-rebuttal-to.html

[freshwest]

6. All nukes put all the costs on the taxpayers. Especially if something goes wrong. Always have. Scam.

As soon as the EPA was charged with working on Superfund sites from those corporations who polluted and disincorporated, taking their money and leaving a public hazard, the other corporations saw a way to profif by shifting their costs to the taxpayer They are the real welfare queens.

But the nuke industry had it codified even before the EPA was created, that the taxpayers would foot the bill for their mistakes. And people went along with it, because anything related to the technology of the Holy Bomb was considered the Duty of the Nation to pay, no matter how it has distorted our values.

We have been worshipping at the altar of Weapons of Mass Destruction for years, the power of life and death and the ability to force others to do our will by the hideous effects of these weapons, the numbing and gut chilling terror they can produce in millions. No matter how stupid or bad for people or the planet, just to possess the ability to intimidate nations. That's not democracy, it's evil.

I consider nuke power a Cold War relic, a harm to people by funneling their wealth through budget dollars to bullshit, to the environment because of half-life and to democratic government as it requires layers of security set in stone. This was why we worked to stop them being built.

That's my view and that's all it is. I no longer seek to educate or reason with those who profit or believe in the 'what's good for business is good for the country' mantra. What's good for business ends up with Romneys and Scotts devouring everything for their own pockets. That's what government was meant to stop.

Some see boiling water to make steam to turn turbines through by the heat of fissionable materials as clever and necessary. They won't change their minds. And there is no dissent in a state run by Teabaggers.

[kristopher]

7. Very well said. nt

[freshwest]

8. The future could still be different.

[kristopher]

9. Charging Florida utility customers in advance for nuclear power plants likely to persist

Charging Florida utility customers in advance for nuclear power plants likely to persist
Jeff Harrington, Times Staff Writer
Friday, August 2, 2013 10:51pm


It was supposed to save Duke Energy's customers millions of dollars. It was supposed to make building the Levy County nuclear plant both faster and cheaper.

...

"I think it's outrageous," former governor and potential gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist said Friday. "I think they've made the greatest case one could make for never doing (the advance recovery fee) again."

Does that mean the law will get repealed?

"I'm afraid not," Crist said.

...

"The chance of us ever repealing this, unfortunately, is still slim to none," said state Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, one of the more ardent critics of the prepay plan. "The power that Florida Power & Light has and Duke has in Tallahassee is just too overwhelming."

...

Much more at: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/charging-florida-utility-customers-in-advance-for-nuclear-power-plants/2134643