Miss. Commission Denies Challenges Of Power Plant

TIMOTHY R. BROWN

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Public Service Commission has denied two motions, including one filed by state Attorney General Jim Hood, challenging the application for a planned $2.2 billion power plant in Kemper County.

Hood had said he was concerned Mississippi Power Co. was blending the certificate or application for the plant with a rate increase request. He also said in his motion that the PSC has jurisdiction over electric utilities, but not over the manufacturing of synthetic gas.

The plant would be an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) facility that converts locally mined lignite, or "brown coal," into a gas to generate lower-emission electricity.

Mississippi Power is the first to potentially use a 2008 state law that lets companies seek a rate increase in advance to help pay for an electrical-generating facility. Under the old law, a utility had to wait until a plant was operating before asking for rate increases to recover construction costs.

In an order filed Friday, the three-member commission said it would separate the issues during the hearing process — first addressing the need for the power plant, which is the main part of the application, and then the possible rate increase.