Today, the Mississippi Senate overwhelmingly voted to approve House Bills 894 and 1134.

HB 894 would provide the Public Service Commission with another tool to implement a rate recovery plan, and ensure the PSC will retain full authority over how much Mississippi Power will recover from customers for its investment in the Kemper County energy facility.

HB 1134 will save Mississippi Power customers $1 billion over the life of the Kemper County energy facility. Mississippi Power would establish a special-purpose entity to sell low-interest bonds and customers would repay the low interest debt only. The company would not earn a profit on the bonds.

The company provided the following comments regarding today’s decision:

“We are very pleased with the decision today of the Mississippi Senate to pass two key pieces of legislation that will keep customers’ cost of electricity as low as possible.

“The leadership shown today by the Senate, and last week by the House of Representatives in approving the rate mitigation and securitization bills, will save customers $1 billion or more over the life of the Kemper County energy facility.

“There has been much misinformation about the Kemper project and this legislation conveyed by the Sierra Club. These out-of-state activists are against cost-effective energy solutions for the future of our customers and neighbors.

“The real facts about the Kemper project are that with this legislation and the settlement agreement with the Public Service Commission, customer bills will rise between 20 and 25 percent if approved by the PSC – not the distorted amounts touted by the Sierra Club.

“The Kemper County energy facility is creating thousands of good-paying jobs, contributing over $70 million in taxes and will continue to add tremendous value to customers and to the economy of the region over the life of the plant. This is a Mississippi project, using Mississippi resources and Mississippi labor in developing clean, efficient, low-cost Mississippi-fueled energy.

“We look forward to Governor Bryant considering these bills and working with the Public Service Commission to use these new tools to manage customer costs.”

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