Groups Seek to Block Georgia Power Rate Hike Law

    ATLANTA (AP) - Opponents of a new law that would allow Georgia
Power to charge ratepayers early for the construction of two new
nuclear reactors are trying to block the measure in court.
    An environmental group and a conservative foundation have filed
separate lawsuits in Fulton County Superior Court challenging the
law.
    Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the measure into law in April. The
utility says that allowing it to raise rates beginning in 2011 will
shave roughly $300 million of the Plant Vogtle expansion’s $14
billion price tag.
    The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy said in its lawsuit that
it forces ratepayers to pick up the tab for “an untested
technology with extraordinary costs.“
    And the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation said the rate hike
amounts to an unconstitutional “tariff.“