SCE testifies to CPUC that rates will not be impacted by SONGS

Press release from Southern California Edison below.

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ROSEMEAD, Calif., Aug. 14, 2013 — Southern California Edison (SCE) submitted testimony to the California Public Utilities Commission today that outlines expected cost reductions due to labor and other operating changes at the recently retired San Onofre nuclear plant that, combined with related financial factors, are projected to leave customer rates unchanged. Key points include:

· A ratemaking proposal to recover SCE’s remaining investment in San Onofre at a lower rate of return over a five-year period within current rate levels.
· A $42 million average annual reduction in revenue collections from customers for San Onofre in 2013 and 2014, followed by additional reductions in the subsequent three years.
· A proposal to apply the operating cost savings to offset replacement power costs; those market costs are up 12 percent over last year in Southern California.
· A proposal to apply similar terms to San Onofre Units 2 and 3 that the utilities commission authorized 20 years ago for the retirement of San Onofre Unit 1.

SCE announced June 7 that it would retire San Onofre Units 2 and 3, and begin preparations to decommission the facility. The site workforce will be reduced to about 600, a reduction of 900 employees, by the end of this year. For more information about SCE, follow us on Twitter.
About Southern California Edison

An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

Decommissioning fact sheet: http://www.songscommunity.com/docs/DecommissioningSanOnofreComplete.pdf

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This release is important to understand in light of the amount of noise anti-nuclear activists are making about the decommissioning costs of the plant, and potential rate hikes to dismantle it even though it's producing no energy.  The release from SCE -- detailing testimony to the California Public Utilities Commission -- clearly rebuts that type of thinking.

1:10 PM Eastern 9/8/2013
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW