South Carolina Electric & Gas said in a regulatory filing that Unit 2 at the VC Summer nuclear plant construction site would not be completed until 10 August 2019, pushing the completion date back from a previous estimate of June 2019. Construction of VC Summer Unit 3, however, was estimated to have a completion date ahead of its previous June 2020 estimate. Unit 3 is now expected to be completed at the end of May 2020.
However, despite putting a positive spin on project finances this spring, credit assessors at Fitch Ratings downgraded SCE&G parent company Scana Corporation’s issuer default rating from BBB+ to BBB- this week. SCE&G’s rating was downgraded from BBB+ to BBB.
Fitch listings from AAA to BBB are considered investment grade, while listings of BB through D are speculative grades.
The new ratings, reported MarketWatch, reflect a $1.1 billion construction cost increase associated with roughly two years of delays from previous completion estimates.
In March, SCE&G estimated completion dates of the two Westinghouse AP1000 units at June 2019 and June 2020. At that point, SCE&G’s share of the projects capital costs was estimated at $5.2 billion, which included $698 million in costs associated with delays, which SCG&E attributed to delays in completion of submodular components. The reactors are being built by a consortium led by Westinghouse Electric and Chicago Bridge and Iron.
Lower inflation rates and better-than-expected interest rates meant the additional costs would counteract the impact on consumers, Scana said in March.