How much would a nuclear subsidy add to your electric bill? Here’s a breakdown

• Marie Cusick
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  Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

State lawmakers are considering giving out roughly half-a-billion dollars a year in subsidies Pennsylvania’s nuclear power industry. So, how much would that cost you?

Two bills under consideration, HB 11 and SB 510, differ in some respects. However, both are aimed at preventing the premature closure of Exelon’s Three Mile Island Unit 1 reactor, which is scheduled to close this fall, and FirstEnergy’s Beaver Valley plant, set to close in 2021.

Here’s how much the House bill would add to Pennsylvania electric customers’ bills each year:

HB 11 sponsor Rep. Thomas Mehaffie (R- Dauphin) put out his own (lower) cost estimate, but these numbers come from the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate an agency tasked with representing the interests of Pennsylvania utility customers before state and federal utility regulators and in court. The amounts shown represent the annual impact of HB 11 during reporting year 2019.

The Office of Consumer Advocate has not yet completed an analysis of the Senate bill. You can read more of their review of the financial impacts of HB 11 here, here, and here.

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