Mississippi Regulators Approve Deal On Rates For Power Plant

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Years of contention and threatened additional electric rate increases have ended as utility regulators approved a settlement declaring how much Mississippi Power Co. customers should pay for their share of a troubled $7.5 billion power plant.

Once touted as a model for the future of coal, the state Public Service Commission forced the unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. to quit construction on the Kemper County plant in 2017, with shareholders losing about $6 billion.

Residential customers will pay about $3 less per month than they now pay for part of the power plant burning natural gas.

One prominent opponent, Hattiesburg oilman Thomas Blanton, still opposes the deal. Most other Kemper foes have signed on.

Because of corporate income tax cuts, payments from ratepayers would fall more than originally projected.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)