Plant Vogtle Owners Avoid Loan Subsidy Fee
Monday, April 28th, 2014
Two major utility companies building a nuclear power plant in Georgia will not pay a fee to secure billions of dollars in government-subsidized loans, records show.
The U.S. Department of Energy in February approved $6.5 billion in lending for Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power and Oglethorpe Power Corp without requiring them to pay a credit subsidy fee, which is supposed to compensate the government for the financial risk involved in making the loan. Together, those companies own a three-quarters stake in the two new reactors under construction at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia.
Greenwire first obtained the documents using the federal open records law.
Spokesmen for Southern Co. and Oglethorpe Power declined to comment on the fee structure. Officials at the Department of Energy say they used a standardized system to calculate the charges and did not give either company special treatment.
