Most Missourians want utility companies to pay for the costs of developing a nuclear power plant, according to an April 10 telephone survey released Tuesday by the Fair Electric Rate Action Fund (FERAF), a lobbying group of business organizations and large utility consumers.
Sunday's survey of 600 likely voters found 77 percent of them "think that energy companies should pay for the costs of developing a new nuclear power plant rather than ratepayers, and 73 percent agree that keeping electric bills low is more important than developing nuclear power."
Ameren Missouri and a consortium of other commercial, cooperative and municipal electricity providers want lawmakers to pass a bill allowing ratepayers to be charged for the estimated $40-million to $45-million cost of seeking - and winning - an "Early Site Permit" determining if the Callaway Nuclear Plant site qualifies for a second nuclear reactor.