Mississippi PSC finalizes permanent rates for energy facility

Mississippi Power Kemper rate reductions follow a PSC order, lowering permanent rates, refunding interim charges with bill credits, and cutting fuel costs for residential customers using 1,000 kWh, across southeast Mississippi electricity service.

Recently, the Mississippi Public Service Commission approved an agreement that will lower bills and provide an additional credit to Mississippi Power customers. The PSC approved the agreement by a vote of 3-0.

The decision comes after an agreement reached last month between Mississippi Power and the Public Utilities Staff regarding permanent rates associated with parts of Kemper that are currently in operation and have been serving Mississippi Power customers for more than a year. The vote by the PSC, which followed a hearing on utility charges in Mississippi, finalized that agreement.

As part of the agreement:

- Kemper rates will be reduced for residential customers, similar to Georgia Power bill reductions seen elsewhere, by approximately $4.70 below the current interim rate increase for a residential customer using 1,000 kWh a month. This will be applied to bills beginning with the first billing cycle in January 2016.

- Mississippi Power will credit back to customers, echoing one-time bill decreases from Gulf Power, the difference between the interim rates collected since August and the permanent rates in the agreement. This will result in an approximate average $22 one-time credit to residential customers' bills within 90 days.

"We want to thank the PSC and the Public Utilities Staff for their hard work in coming to an agreement with Mississippi Power on the in-service Kemper assets, which have been supplying customers with electricity for more than a year," Mississippi Power CEO Ed Holland said. "This ensures we can continue the progress we have made to bring the Kemper facility fully online. With this decision, Mississippi Power can proceed with some certainty and stability while providing our customers with safe, clean and reliable electricity."

The company also has filed a request to further reduce customers' bills, even as proposals like fees for using less energy are debated in other states, as part of its annual fuel filing. The company has asked for an approximate $13.70 reduction for a residential customer using 1,000 kWh a month.

"These reductions, along with the refund we have already provided customers, will lower customers' bills significantly, contrasting with a major rate hike by KCP&L seen in Missouri," Holland said. "We are committed to providing affordable and reliable electricity to our customers and believe this will have a positive effect not only on individual households, but also on southeast Mississippi."

The basis of the PSC order is Kemper's combined cycle portion of the plant, which has been in service since August of 2014, providing electricity safely and reliably to Mississippi Power customers. In its first year of operation, the combined cycle unit has generated more than 3.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power the needs of approximately 250,000 homes for a year.

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, produces safe, reliable and environmentally responsible energy for more than 186,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties.

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