Critics Fear PG&E's Aging Diablo Canyon Power Plant Costs May be Twice the Initial Estimates

Source: NBC Bay Area |  By Jaxon Van Derbeken

The cost of keeping the aging Diablo Canyon nuclear plant open five more years could be as much as double what PG&E had first estimated back when a deal was struck two years ago to run it longer to help assure grid reliability, experts say. The deal involved lending the utility $1.4 billion, which the state hoped to get back with a newly available federal grant. But when the grant was issued in January of this year, critics discovered that the amount available could be as little as half the sum originally advertised.

“A significant portion of that loan is going to be turned into a gift to PG&E, funded by the taxpayers,” said Matt Freedman, an attorney with the ratepayer group TURN that has been critical of the deal. Freeman noted that even lawmakers who initially signed off on the loan have recently soured on the deal.Next year, ratepayers will start feeling the pinch of the deal – with a proposed $400 million rate hike. But the hike will not be spent on fixing the aging plant. Instead, Freedman says, the money will begin to pay the utility $2 billion worth of promised profits and other incentives over five years. “We don't understand why you need to bribe PG&E to keep this plant operating,” Freedman said, adding all the money the state is throwing into the plant would be better spent on bringing far cheaper clean energy alternatives on-line.