JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Power Co. wants a 6 percent rate increase to pay for the coal-fired power plant it is building in Kemper County.
Jeff Shepard, a spokesman for the Gulfport-based unit of Southern Co., says that would increase the company’s overall revenue by about $50 million.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission could consider the rate increase at a June 24 meeting.
It’s unclear whether Mississippi Power’s announcement that the plant’s price tag has increased to $2.76 billion will affect the PSC’s action. That’s an increase of $366 million from the original $2.4 billion estimate.
Northern District Commissioner Brandon Presley, a Democrat who has opposed the plant as too expensive for customers, says he believes Mississippi Power hid the overrun to get a needed approval from the three-member utility regulator in April.
