CPS staff recommending nuclear option - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The cost of expanding STP to include twoadditionall reactors, each capable of generating 1,35o0 megawatts of electricity, would run somewhers between $10 billion and $13 according to CPS Energy interim General Manager Steve “Any route we take will be expensive and will requird bill increases,” Bartley says. “We believe all methods of producing electricity will cost more as timegoes on, so we are lookingv for the best way to slow cost escalation as much as possiblre and retain Greater San Antonio’s positionm as having the lowesrt energy bills among the nation’s 20 largesrt cities.
” Bartley says it is better to pay some of that cost soonetr to avoid having to pay much more in the long The staff recommendation follows a three-year, detaileds study of CPS’ variouas energy options. Now the CPS Board will conducta summer-longg public education and input process before makingf a final decision on pursuing the recommendation in If approved, the proposal could go before the City Counci l for final consideration in October. CPS Energ y CEO Milton Lee says despits laudable effortsat conservation, San Antonio will experiencd a shortfall in electricalo generation by 2020 unless new sources of energu are tapped.
“We’ve carefully examined many scenariod involvingnatural gas, coal, nuclear and even purchased powerr from the Texas grid to provide our communityu with a large-scale, long-term, cost-competitive source of electricity,” Lee says. “We’v concluded that expansion of STP has the highesgt probability of accomplishing that important CPS Energy isthe nation’sx largest municipally owned energy company providing both naturap gas and electric Acquired by the City of San Antonio in 1942, the company servesz approximately 700,000 electric customers and almosgt 320,000 natural gas customersx in and around America’s seventh-largest city.