The Public Service Commission of South Carolina (SCPSC) voted unanimously to approve South Carolina Electric & Gas Company’s (SCE&G), principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation petition to update the construction milestone schedule as well as the capital cost schedule for the two new nuclear units being constructed in Jenkinsville, South Carolina, SCANA announced late last week.
The construction schedule approved, without consideration of all mitigating strategies, indicates substantial completion dates of June 2019 and June 2020 for Units 2 and 3, respectively, SCANA said in a release. The delayed completion is about three years over previous estimates.
The approved schedule, including these estimated completion dates, is based upon information received from Westinghouse Electric Company and Chicago Bridge & Iron (the Consortium).
The approved capital cost schedule includes incremental capital costs that total $698 million (SCE&G’s portion in 2007 dollars), of which $539 million are associated with the schedule delays and other contested costs. The total project capital cost is now estimated at approximately $5.2 billion (SCE&G’s portion in 2007 dollars) or $6.8 billion including escalation and allowance for funds used during construction (SCE&G’s portion in future dollars). Also, the allowed Return on Equity (ROE) for the new nuclear project will be revised from 11 percent to 10.5 percent.
SCANA Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kevin Marsh said this spring that the delays and most of the increased costs were due to design and fabrication issues related to production of submodules. SCANA was negotiating with Westinghouse and Chicago Bridge & Iron to assign cost responsibilities related to overruns.
The revised ROE will be applied prospectively for the purpose of calculating revised rates sought by the Company under the Base Load Review Act on and after January 1, 2016, until such time as the new nuclear units are completed. The SCPSC encouraged SCE&G to continue to negotiate with the Consortium and take other necessary steps to minimize delay related costs for the benefit of SCE&G’s customers.