OP-ED: Geoff Pender - Sep. 7, 2013 9:59 PM Kemper plant no political game changer - When, or maybe if, Mississippi Power fires up the burners at its Kemper County plant next spring, many state leaders will be watching with bated breath, and their anxiousness will be more about politics than power generation. If it works as planned, and starts producing cheap and clean electricity from crappy old lignite, a lot of Republican state leaders, including Gov. Phil Bryant, will breathe sighs of relief. If it doesn’t work, is delayed long beyond May or ends up with even more cost overruns or power bill hikes, many Democratic leaders will scream “Republican-corporate boondoggle” to high heaven, along with their strange bedfellows, tea partiers and some ultra conservatives. I’ve talked recently with several Democratic political operative types, and they still see the Kemper plant as a potential game changer for Mississippi politics. They figure people and businesses in the lower third of the state will be so mad with large power bill hikes that voters will start looking for the goats. They believe a turn-the-bums out movement would center on Republicans and could help them regain a state House majority, and might even help on the gubernatorial level. The issue has made Democratic Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley — who’s questioned the project and championed for the poor old power customers — a rising star in state politics. The political fight started back in 2008, when then Gov. Haley Barbour, Republican legislative leaders and the powerful power lobby passed a law to allow utilities to start charging customers before a new plant is even completed. It forces customers instead of the private market to finance projects such as the Kemper plant. This still faces a court challenge. But I think it might be premature for Democrats to start measuring for curtains in the speaker’s office or Governor’s Mansion over the Kemper project. I don’t think it’s going to be quite the stalking horse or political paradigm shifter some believe, and, as I recall, some Democratic leaders and union folks have been complicit in the plant’s march forward. For starters, the plant might work. Sure, it’s relatively untried technology at least on this scale, and construction costs have ballooned from a projected $2.4 billion (actually even lower than that very early on) to now at least $4.7 billion. Power customers are on the hook to pay off at least $3.88 billion. But Mississippi Power leaders say that, once working, the plant will generate electricity cheaper than any others and bring rates down over the long haul. They say others will want to buy their technology and swear the company won’t hit customers up for any costs beyond an expected 22 percent rate increase. Time will tell. As someone I just spoke with said, if it does turn out to be a total boondoggle, would it be enough of a boondoggle by 2015 to impact statewide elections? Probably not. And beyond that, will angry power customers forgive and forget? Another factor: This mainly affects south Mississippi, which is staunchly Republican and not likely to change from red to blue over power bills. I know opponents have mentioned how rates would be affected elsewhere, with Mississippi Power charging other utilities more for its power because of Kemper, but that’s getting fairly nebulous, in political terms. I was in a meeting with Mississippi Power CEO Ed Holland last week. He mentioned the political uproar back when Entergy customers had to pay large rate increases for the Grand Gulf nuclear plant. I took it as him noting this, too, shall pass, and he said the plant now provides the cheapest electricity in the Entergy system. I asked Holland if he believes political support for the project is wavering. His response: “I think most of those who were with us in the beginning are with us today.” Maybe. But they sure aren’t as vocal in their support, particularly since tea party types have panned the project. There’s the old saying in politics: “I stayed with you as long as I could.” I haven’t heard anyone on news talk shows lately promoting it. I’m told Gov. Bryant, who as lieutenant governor championed the plant, has voiced some concerns about the construction cost overruns. But I think the main political fallout has already happened: PSC Southern District Commissioner Leonard Bentz read the tea leaves over his support for the plant and beat a hasty retreat from office mid-term. I’m not defending the Kemper project. The concept of customers financing, up front, pig-in-a-poke projects for large corporations who already have their profits secured by government regulation and monopoly is a pretty sorry state of affairs. But I just don’t see it changing the state’s political landscape as some are predicting.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 12:53:03 +0000
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