Dive Summary:

• Next Tuesday, the Georgia Public Service Commission will decide whether or not to defer the debate about Vogtle’s rising cost until the new reactors come online in 2018.
• If deferred, Southern Co. will back off its request to raise the construction budget by $737 million to $6.85 billion until the reactors are up and running. Any deferral of the budget debate would transfer financial risks squarely onto Southern Co. and its subsidiary Georgia Power.
• “If the utility exceeds its budget, then the burden would be on Georgia Power to persuade regulators that the excess spending should be passed along to its customers. But if the PSC votes to raise the project budget, then the law would assume Georgia Power was entitled to collect all of its budgeted costs from customers, so long as regulators couldn't prove the spending was imprudent, reckless or somehow criminal,” AP reports.

From the article:

“The preliminary agreement also helps Southern Co. avoid a politically charged fight over project spending while it deals with a separate rate case in Georgia and an over-budget coal gasification plant in Mississippi.”