FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 28, 2012
CONTACT:
Louie Miller, (601) 624-3503
New Independent Monitor Report
Confirms Cost Escalations, Delays at MS Power’s Kemper Plant
JACKSON, MS – In a new
independent report filed on Monday, November 26, Mississippi Power’s
experimental Kemper County coal plant is expected to cost at least $3 billion
and the plant’s completion may be as much as eight months behind schedule or
delayed even further. This new report follows on the heels of the Institute
for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report issued recently in
partnership with Sierra Club, which demonstrated the same cost overruns and
schedule delays.
“It’s plain as the nose on my
face – Mississippi Power’s Kemper plant is significantly behind schedule and
now the price tag has topped the $3 Billion threshold. The company has continued
to try to whitewash this boondoggle but that dog won’t hunt,” said Louie
Miller, State Director of the Mississippi Sierra Club. “The Burns and Roe
Engineering analysis suggests that the start of commercial operations could be
as much as six or seven months later than Mississippi Power admits. By failing
to use basic project management practices, Mississippi Power is ignoring the
most important tools to track and control costs. Why?”
The Burns and Roe (BREI) report
was prepared for the Mississippi Public Service Commission Staff, which
operates separately from the elected Commissioners. Notable, the BREI report provides
no evidence to support Mississippi Power’s claim that the plant is 70% complete
and supports IEEFA’s assessment that the plant is likely less than half
complete.
“Mississippi Power can no longer
credibly claim that the Kemper plant is in good shape,” added Miller. “They
need to stop putting lipstick on this pig and come clean about the true state
of the plant’s finances and construction, and the Public Service Commission
needs to step in and pull the plug before customers are made to foot the bill
for Mississippi Power’s $3 Billion dollar mistake.”
Duke Energy’s Edwardsport plant
is the only project comparable to the Kemper County coal plant currently under
construction in the United States. According to the IEEFA report, the
Edwardsport plant is more than one billion dollars over budget and is delayed
by nearly a year. The Mississippi Business Journal predicted the Kemper plant
would raise customers’ electricity rates by more than 45% before the project
experienced cost overruns and delays.
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