ATLANTA - The Georgia House of Representatives has passed Senate Bill 31 by a 107 to 66 margin. The bill that forces Georgia Power customers to prepay years in advance for the debt interest and return on equity for two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in Burke County now awaits signature by Gov. Perdue, who is expected to act quickly.

SB 31 will force Georgia Power customers to prepay at least $400 million in state and federal income taxes between 2011 and 2017 on an estimated $1 billion in early profit for the private utility. Customers will also pay additional sales tax on the Vogtle surcharges.

Georgia Power estimates the impact to residential customers using 1,000 kwh at a minimum $1.30 per month beginning January 2011. The surcharge will compound annually to at least $10 per month by 2017. Estimated impact does not include any cost overruns or delays that the construction project may incur. Estimates also do not account for the partial exemption from the surcharge that the bill extends to large users, such as manufacturers, "big box" retailers and hospitals.

"We are disappointed that over 100 legislators voted for this bill, in this economy, and in the face of so much evidence that it will only cost rate payers more money in the long run," said Georgia Watch executive director Allison Wall. "There are so many variables with a construction project of this magnitude, it is unbelievable that an elected official would vote to shift all the risk to the rate payers."

The Georgia Public Service Commission was scheduled to rule on March 17 on the question of whether and how Georgia Power should employ the prepayment scheme, called "Construction Work in Progress." SB 31 pre-empts PSC action and mandates specific cost recovery and rate design mechanisms that the Commission must allow the utility to use while the Vogtle units are being constructed and before it starts generating electricity.