On April 21, 2009, Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue signed the Georgia Nuclear Energy Financing Act (“Act”). The Act provides that a Georgia utility shall recover its costs of financing associated with the construction of a nuclear generating facility during the construction period after the proposed plant’s certification by the Georgia Public Service Commission (“GPSC”). The Act requires that the financing costs be recovered in a separate tariff on all base tariffs that collect capacity costs. This cost recovery will not only apply to the construction of the proposed two new nuclear units at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro, Georgia but also to any future nuclear facilities built in Georgia.

The Act gives the GPSC the authority to authorize the specific accounting treatment used for the collection of financing costs and to supervise the recording of the cost recovery. The recoverable financing costs are recalculated and trued-up on an annual basis. Finally, the Act provides a mechanism to recover financing costs between the time a nuclear generating facility becomes operational and the utility’s next general rate case.