SOUTHERN &lt;SO> TO TAKE CHARGE ON VOGTLE COST

  Southern Co said it will take an
  after-tax charge of 226 mln dlrs against earnings no later than
  January 1988 because the projected cost of the Vogtle nuclear
  power plant has risen abover the amount which retail customers
  in Georgia will be asked to pay.
      The company's largest subsidiary, Georgia Power Co, said
  the budget for the plant has increased by 6.3 pct, or 522 mln
  dlrs, to 8.87 billion. However, because of a pledge the made
  last year to Georgia's Public Service Commission, the increased
  cost will not be included in the utility's retail electric
  rates.
      Geogia Power also said its board has delayed the scheduled
  completion of Vogtle's Unit Two to June 1989 from September
  1988. Unit Two is about 60 pct complete, it added.
      The utility said fuel loading has been completed at Unit
  One and the unit is being put through a series of low-power
  tests before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is asked for a
  full-power license.
      The nuclear power plant, located near Waynesboro, Ga., is
  co-owned by &lt;Oglethorpe Power Corp>, the Municipal Electric
  Authority of Georgia and the city of Dalton.
      Georgia Power said the revised Vogtle budget estimate was
  due to several factors, including additional labor costs
  incurred to keep the plant's first unit on schedule for
  commercial operation by June. The new figure represents the
  first change in the plant's budget since August 1985, when it
  was estimated at 8.35 billion dlrs.
      In March 1986, the utility told Georgia regulators it would
  "cap" the price of Vogtle its customers would be asked to pay
  at 3.56 billion dlrs, the company's share of the then projected
  8.35 billion dlr total. Under the new budget, Georgia Power
  said, its share amounts to 3.87 billion dlrs.
      Noting that Georgia Power's share of the Vogtle increase is
  313 mln dlrs, Southern said this will result in a charge
  against earnings of 177 mln dlrs after taxes.
      In addition, the company said, Georgia Power's contracts
  with the joint owners require the utility to buy back
  significant amounts of Vogtle capacity during the plant's
  initial years of operation. Under terms of the cap on costs, it
  will not attempt to recover the portion of the budget increase
  that applies to the buybacks.
      This bings the total amount that must be charged against
  earnings to 2326 mln dlrs after taxes, Southern said.
      Southern said new rules of the Financial Accounting
  Standards Board, which are effective in January 1988, require
  any costs that are determined nonrecoverable to be charged
  against earnings once that determination is made.
      The company also said its board has approved a capital
  budget of 2.1 billion dlrs in 1987, including work on the
  Vogtle project.
      It said a 5.9 billion dlr capita budget for the three-year
  period 1987-1989 was also outlined at the board meeting, noting
  this is 700 mln dlrs below the comparable figure for the years
  1986-1988.
  

