Questions surround Public Service Commission’s planned rate-hike vote | Plus

The first of two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle went online earlier this year, and Georgia Power has said the second should go into service early next year. The construction took years longer than projected and has cost more than twice the original budget.

Georgia Power, PSC staff, and several advocacy groups have already agreed to a deal over how much of the Vogtle costs customers have to pay. It works out to a bill increase of about $8.95 per month for the average customer. But those groups don’t have final say; the five elected public service commissioners do. They’ll hear testimony on the proposed deal, known as a stipulated agreement, beginning Monday, before voting on Dec. 19.

If the PSC approves the rate increase, it would kick in after Plant Vogtle Unit 4 comes online next year and represent the fifth power bill hike for Georgia Power customers since Jan. 1.

Construction on the new reactors at Plant Vogtle began in 2009, with an expected price tag of $14 billion and a projected opening date of 2017. In the more than a decade it’s taken to build the units, the costs have more than doubled, to an estimated total of more than $30 billion.

Georgia Power co-owns the Vogtle project with other power generation companies, so the company is not responsible for the total cost of financing and building the new reactors.

But Georgia Power owns the largest share. By the end of construction on the second reactor, the company expects it will have racked up…