KEMPER COUNTY, Miss.–The big Kemper County coal plant is still going up, but the continuous cost overruns are causing its parent company’s stock to fall. Southern Company was expected to absorb another $200 million because of construction delays.
That money will not come from customers, but will instead be eaten by the company.
Continuous announcements of overruns this year and last may have prompted some selling off of the company’s stock, which was up Monday, but down overall.
The company also said it would lose tax benefits for not completing the plant and going online this year. That could cost anywhere from $120 million to $150 million.
Mississippi Power’s nearly 200,000 customers have already seen substantial rises in their electric bills to pay for the plant. The state’s Public Service Commission put a cap on that earlier in the process.
