Duke Energy to cancel proposed Levy County nuclear plant, Fasano says Tampa Bay Times
Duke Energy will kill the $24.7 billion nuclear plant it planned to build in Levy County, according to state Rep. Mike Fasano.
"It's my understanding from a very good source that Duke Energy will announce after the close of the markets today that they will not be building the nuclear power plants in Levy County," said Fasano, R-New Port Richey.
Under a controversial Florida law, consumers have been paying for Levy in advance of construction. Legislators promised the "advance fee'' would get nuclear projects built both faster and cheaper.
In the case of Levy, it did neither. In fact, the Levy site remains empty.
Thursday's announcement follows Duke's decision in February to mothball its existing nuclear plant in Crystal River. Progress broke that plant during a botched equipment upgrade in 2009. The advance fee forces Duke customers to pay for that upgrade as well.
The bottom line: Duke customers may end up paying roughly $3 billion for Crystal River and Levy.
The advance fee law does not require Duke to refund any of the money that has already been spent on the Levy project.
So, in Florida, a utility company can say they plan on building a nuclear power plant, start charging its customers for the "planned" plant, then dick around for a few years collecting over a billion dollars, then say, "Nah, just pulling your leg. We won't build the plant but we will keep all the money we "raised" to build a plant we never really intended to build."
Highly profitable way to do business. I am sure the Ayn Rand crowd are creaming themselves over this "free market" tactic for "maximizing shareholder value".