Gulfport, Miss. – Mississippi Power today filed with the Mississippi Public Service Commission for recovery of financing costs associated with constructing the Kemper County energy facility, which will be used to mitigate and stabilize future rate increases. The filing was made in accordance with the settlement agreement reached on Thursday with the PSC for regulatory procedures related to the Kemper project.

The company has requested to recover $172 million, representing a 21 percent adjustment on total retail revenues. If approved, the typical residential customer using 1,000 kWh a month will see an increase of less than a $1 a day on bills in 2013.

“We have worked hard to keep this increase as low as possible,” said Mississippi Power President and CEO Ed Day.

Working with the PSC on the procedures outlined in the settlement agreement and the Mississippi Legislature on legislation allowing alternate financing of a portion of the project, the company anticipates the overall average rate effect of the Kemper project will be approximately 25 percent. 

“This is well under the increase we had anticipated and significantly lower than what opponents to the project claimed,” said Day.

It has been more than three decades since Mississippi Power has built a base load generating plant, which runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The facility will be fueled by abundant, low-cost Mississippi lignite and will provide reliable electricity to customers at a significantly lower cost than other alternatives.

The Kemper project is nearly 75 percent complete and is scheduled to begin operation in May 2014. The project has created 12,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction. When operational, it will create 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, while also contributing millions of dollars in tax payments to the Mississippi economy.

If approved, the requested increase will go into effect in April 2013.

Mississippi Power, a Southern Company subsidiary, serves approximately 186,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties.

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Certain information contained in this release is forward-looking information based on current expectations and plans that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements concerning recovery of financing costs associated with the Kemper integrated coal gasification combined cycle facility (“Kemper IGCC”), customer rates, outcome of pending regulatory proceedings, completion of construction of the Kemper IGCC, creation of jobs and economic growth.  Mississippi Power cautions that there are certain factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information that has been provided. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Mississippi Power; accordingly, there can be no assurance that such suggested results will be realized. The following factors, in addition to those discussed in Mississippi Power’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, and subsequent securities filings, could cause actual results to differ materially from management expectations as suggested by such forward-looking information: the impact of recent and future federal and state regulatory changes, as well as changes in application of existing laws and regulations; current and future litigation, regulatory investigations, proceedings, or inquiries; available sources and costs of fuels; ability to control costs and avoid cost overruns during the development and construction of facilities, which includes projects involving facility designs that have not been finalized or previously constructed; advances in technology; state and federal rate regulations and the impact of pending and future rate cases and negotiations, including rate actions relating to fuel and other cost recovery mechanisms; regulatory approvals and actions related to the Kemper IGCC, including Mississippi Public Service Commission (“PSC”) approvals, potential U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantees, the South Mississippi Electric Power Association purchase decision, satisfaction of requirements to utilize investment tax credits and grants, and the outcome of any further proceedings regarding the PSC’s issuance of the certificate of public convenience and necessity; and the ability of counterparties of Mississippi Power to make payments as and when due and to perform as required. Mississippi Power expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking information.