Ratepayers are in the dark about whether they will be expected to pay a bill that totaled $165 million as of June 30 for replacement power, repairs and inspection for the damaged plant. SONGS, located on the coast south of San Clemente, went offline in January after water leaks in Unit 3’s steam generator tubes were detected. It has since been revealed that hundreds of other steam tubes are also compromised.

Rising costs for SONGS replacement power come on top of the roughly $665 million Edison was authorized to bill ratepayers for replacing the old steam generators in 2010 and 2011. The CPUC should be reducing rates as a result of SONGS being out of service, not increasing rates to pay for replacement power and compensating SCE and SDG&E for a malfunctioning unit. Making these costs 'subject to refund", as the CPUC recently did, is just not enough.SONGS has been down for more than a year- it is time for rates to come down as well.

TURN and other consumer groups have urged the CPUC to act immediately to clarify the cost responsibility for San Onofre’s breakdown.

"The Commission must evaluate the all costs related to San Onfore, in order to ensure that it is fulfilling its legal obligation to remove these costs from rates,” said TURN staff attorney Matt Freedman. Ratepayers should not pay a single penny for costs incurred by Edison to own an expensive, inoperable nuclear plant."

 

Tell the CPUC: Offline Nuke Should Come Off Rates!