Customers oppose costly nuke projects

WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- A U.S. move toward more nuclear energy could be hampered by opposition from big-business customers who don't want to foot the bill for costly projects.

With most banks and investors unwilling to finance the high-risk, multibillion-dollar costs of nuclear reactors, utility companies have gotten the OK from some legislatures and regulators to charge customers for construction while the reactors are being built, The Washington Post reports.

That's a new twist in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, where utilities expect the financing method to save a few billion dollars for each reactor. In most other states, utilities must wait until plants are operating before raising rates.

"We tell people it's like paying off the interest on your credit card as you go along, rather than letting it compound," said Suzanne Grant, a spokeswoman for Progress Energy, which has customers in the Carolinas and Florida.

Big-business customers and other electricity users, however, say the utilities are shifting the projects' risks to them, and consumer and environmental groups have been fighting the state laws and higher rates.

"It's a terrible idea," said Jim Clarkson, a consultant with Resource Supply Management, a Georgia firm that advises companies on reducing electricity use. "We've had decades of subsidies for nuclear plants and all sorts of preferential treatment. They still require loan guarantees because the smart money won't touch them."

The backlash threatens President Barack Obama's efforts to increase the use of nuclear power amid growing concerns about global warming.