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Vogtle owners to receive all remaining payments from Toshiba by Dec. 15

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Vogtle owners to receive all remaining payments from Toshiba by Dec. 15

Under a new agreement, Georgia Power Co. said it and other project co-owners will receive by Dec. 15 all remaining scheduled payments for the Vogtle nuclear plant expansion from Toshiba Corp., totaling $3.2 billion.

Georgia Power and other Vogtle co-owners Oglethorpe Power Corp., Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities have to date received $455 million in total scheduled payments from Toshiba, according to a Dec. 5 news release. Georgia Power said full payment of the $3.2 billion will be used to benefit customers, adding that it removes a major risk as construction on the two reactors continues.

Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power's proportionate share of the payments is approximately $1.47 billion. Oglethorpe Power's share is $967.5 million out of which the company has already received $136.5 million, Oglethorpe said in a separate news release.

The new agreement will become binding after the satisfaction of conditions including the approval of Toshiba's board and receipt of the U.S. Department of Energy's approval.

"We are pleased to have reached this constructive agreement with Toshiba regarding the parent guarantees for the Vogtle project and every dollar will be used to benefit our customers," Georgia Power Chairman, President and CEO Paul Bowers said.

On Southern's third-quarter earnings call Nov. 1, executives said Vogtle's project owners were pursuing full monetization of the remaining Toshiba guarantee payments, which Oglethorpe management later confirmed.

In September, the DOE announced a conditional loan guarantee of $3.7 billion for owners of the Vogtle project, of which Georgia Power's share was $1.67 billion. With the lump sum payment by Toshiba and the additional $1.67 billion DOE loan guarantee, as well as federal production tax credits, projected fuel savings and other factors, Georgia Power projected a "peak rate impact" to customers of approximately 10%, with 5% already included in rates. The utility described that forecast as "well below original projections" of an approximately 12% rate increase.

In August, Georgia Power filed a recommendation to complete construction of Vogtle, which is currently under review by the Georgia Public Service Commission, with a decision on the project's future expected in February 2018.