PARRISH, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Power says its customers will repay about $740 million in costs related to one of its coal-burning power plants that's scheduled to close in April.
Al.com reports the electric utility's parent company, Southern Company, disclosed in a recent regulatory document plans to recover investment costs from William Crawford Gorgas Electric Generating Plant through customers' electric bills. The plant is located in Walker County near Parrish.
Alabama Power has blamed the plant's retirement on "federally driven environmental mandates." It says it spent more than $400 million since 2010 on upgrades aimed at keeping the plant in compliance with tightening federal environmental laws.
John Wilson of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy says Plant Gorgas should have been retired years earlier to avoid the expense of trying to it open.