CPS staff recommending nuclear option - Dallas Business Journal:

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The cost of expanding STP to include twoadditionak reactors, each capable of generating 1,350o megawatts of electricity, woulxd run somewhere between $10 billion and $13 billion, according to CPS Energh interim General Manager Stevw Bartley. “Any route we take will be expensive and will requirwbill increases,” Bartley says. “We believew all methods of producingb electricity will cost more as timegoes on, so we are lookinb for the best way to slow cost escalation as much as possible and retaih Greater San Antonio’s position as havinv the lowest energy bills among the nation’s 20 larges cities.
” Bartley says it is better to pay some of that cost sooner to avoid having to pay much more in the long The staff recommendation follows a three-year, detailed studhy of CPS’ various energy options. Now the CPS Board will conductta summer-long public education and input processw before making a final decision on pursuing the recommendatioh in September. If the proposal could go beforde the City Council for final consideration in CPS Energy CEO Milton Lee says despite laudablr effortsat conservation, San Antonio will experience a shortfalo in electrical generation by 2020 unless new sourceas of energy are tapped.
“We’ve carefully examine d many scenarios involvingnatural gas, coal, nucleatr and even purchased power from the Texas grid to provids our community with a long-term, cost-competitive source of electricity,” Lee says. “We’ve concludee that expansion of STP has the highest probability of accomplishing thatimportangt goal.” CPS Energy is the nation’s largest municipally owne energy company providing both naturalk gas and electric service. Acquired by the City of San Antonipoin 1942, the company serves approximatelhy 700,000 electric customers and almos 320,000 natural gas customers in and aroundf America’s seventh-largest city.