MEAG Power, JEA, And Jacksonville Unveil Settlement of Litigation Tied to Vogtle PPA

By Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted July 31, 2020

Florida public power utility JEA, the City of Jacksonville and the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) on July 30 announced a settlement of all disputed issues relating to the new Units 3 and 4 of the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, a nuclear power generating facility in Georgia, and an amended and restated power purchase agreement.

The JEA board, the City of Jacksonville and the MEAG Power Board approved the settlement.

Terms of the settlement include JEA and the City of Jacksonville dismissing their civil action against MEAG Power currently pending in U.S. District Court, and MEAG Power dismissing its lawsuits against JEA currently pending in U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Also, JEA, the City of Jacksonville and MEAG Power agree to accept without challenge or appeal a June 17 order entered by U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen, including without limitation his determination that the JEA PPA is valid and enforceable. Terms also include certain provisions that will create additional future value to both JEA and MEAG Power, JEA and MEAG Power said in a news release.

In his June 17 ruling, Cohen said that a power purchase agreement between JEA and MEAG Power tied to the expansion project at Plant Vogtle was valid and enforceable.

Under the terms of the PPA, which was signed in 2008, and amended and restated in 2014, JEA committed to purchase all of the energy generated by the new units 3 and 4 of the Vogtle plant, as part of “Project J,” during their first 20 years of operation, as well as to pay for approximately 41 percent of MEAG Power’s share of the construction cost for the new units during those 20 years.

JEA and the City of Jacksonville, Fla., in 2018 filed a complaint in Florida state court for declaratory judgment regarding the PPA. The complaint was filed in the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida on the same day that MEAG Power filed a breach of contract lawsuit against JEA.

Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 are two 1,100-megawatt Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors being constructed in Burke County, Ga.

MEAG Power’s co-owners in the Vogtle expansion project are Georgia Power (45.7 percent), Oglethorpe Power (30.0 percent) and Dalton Utilities (1.6 percent).

MEAG Power provides wholesale electricity to 49 member communities in Georgia, who own their local distribution systems. JEA, which is located in Jacksonville, Fla., serves an estimated 478,000 electric, 357,000 water, 279,000 sewer customers and 15,000 reclaimed water customers.