CPS knew of higher STP cost year ago
By Anton Caputo and Tracy Idell Hamilton - Express-News
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Despite this, utility officials used a much lower figure as they pitched the project at public meetings during the summer, arguing that nuclear was the most cost-effective way for San Antonio to meet its future energy needs.
They took the same message to elected officials who were to vote on a $400 million bond issue and rate increases to finance the multibillion-dollar expansion of the South Texas Project near Bay City.
The response of City Council members and CPS Energy trustees to the 2008 estimate was muted Saturday. “Nothing can surprise me anymore,” Councilwoman Elisa Chan said.
But several officials said the revelation only deepens their mistrust of the city-owned utility's leadership.
“It concerns me greatly that neither the council nor the board was informed,” said Mayor Julián Castro, who acknowledged he, too, recently learned of the existence of the 2008 high estimate.
Those who've been fighting the proposed nuclear deal for months, warning it would cost much more than CPS Energy was promising, were more pointed.
“That means at the district meetings and the public forums they held all summer, CPS was lying to the public,” said Karen Hadden of the SEED Coalition, an Austin-based environmental advocacy group. “This is a massive deception.”
At issue is how much Toshiba will charge for building two nuclear reactors. Since June CPS Energy has estimated the total cost of the project at $13 billion.
This number, the San Antonio Express-News has learned, breaks down in this way: About $8 billion to Toshiba, $1 billion for owner costs, $1 billion for contingencies and $3 billion for financing.
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