Mississippi Power Co., following the approval of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, will remove from customer bills monthly system recovery costs related to destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Southern Co. subsidiary said in a Jan. 24 news release that the bonds used to recover its uninsured losses amounting to more than $300 million have been retired. Subsequently, Mississippi Power will stop charging customers with $3.45 monthly for system restoration.

Hurricane Katrina knocked out 122 of the company's transmission lines and destroyed 65% of its distribution facilities. About 9,000 utility poles, 2,300 transformers and 1,100 miles of transmission lines had to be replaced and the Jack Watson power plant in Gulfport, Miss., needed to be restored.