While the presentation listed specifications for the new plants and recent milestones SCE&G and Santee Cooper have passed, such as submitting license applications for the new units, SCANA also broke down future cost risks associated with choosing to build the new nuclear generation.

The company said it has low-risk fixed or firm prices on some items within its engineering, procurement and construction contract with AP1000 reactor designer Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC, which include charges from Westinghouse, many specified plant components and certain equipment.

SCANA said there was moderate to high risk for cost fluctuation on other items within the EPC contract, including permitting and licensing support, construction materials and all site craft labor because those items are paid at actual costs.

All equipment, labor, materials, insurance and overhead not covered under the EPC contract also have a moderate to high risk of cost escalation due to being paid at actual costs, SCANA said. And new transmission lines and transmission system upgrades planned to accommodate the new units also have a moderate to high risk of cost escalation.

More than 50% of the total projected costs for the new reactors are subject to fixed pricing, SCANA said.

SCANA said it projects SCE&G's share of the $9.8 billion cost for the new units will be $5.41 billion to reflect its 55% ownership, which yields a cost of $4,403 per kW. In addition, SCE&G would take on new transmission costs of $638 million, or $519 per kW, and other small costs, to yield a final cost of $6.31 billion, or $5,137 per kW.

In a year-by-year projection of capital expenditure requirements to proceed with the units, SCANA said SCE&G will have spent about $1.3 billion on the projects by the end of 2010 before it ever makes a final decision on whether to build.

The company said it plans to issue about $640 million in new debt and $640 million in new equity from 2008 to 2010 to cover those near-term costs.

With the combined construction and operating license applications for the two units submitted in March, SCANA said it expects docketing of the combined operating license in August, review to run from late 2008 to 2011 and the license to be issued in late 2011.

In a concurrent review by South Carolina regulators, SCANA said it expects testimony and discovery on its baseload review application to the South Carolina Public Service Commission in the summer or fall of 2008, a hearing on the application in the fall of 2008 and a final order in February 2009.

The baseload review application review will determine SCE&G's return on construction work in progress at the nuclear units, the company said.

The company said SCE&G and Santee Cooper do not expect to make a final decision to construct until 2011, estimating the first unit will be in operation as early as 2016 and the second unit will be in operation by 2019.

SCANA said it expects the new nuclear units to have the effect of increasing rates by about $1.23 billion between 2009 and 2020.

Dubbed the "Campaign for Fair Electric Rates," the coalition has also established a Web site encouraging electricity consumers to "tell ? your story" on "how increasingly high electric rates are impacting your life and that of your community"

Visitors to the Web site are asked to take a moment to share their stories and to "take a stand against unfair and unreasonable electricity rates." The coalition asks consumers to answer questions such as: "Have high electricity rates made it harder for you to pay your bills each month? Do you live on a limited income? Have you had to cut back on other expenses in your home? Are you a small business owner and have less money to expand or invest due to high electricity prices?"

Many of the coalition's members ? including the American Public Power Association and Electricity Consumers Resource Council ? have been complaining for some time that the sophisticated "Day 2" energy markets being run by various RTOs and ISOs are not providing the promised consumer benefits.

While FERC has taken certain steps aimed at improving these markets, APPA, ELCON and others have said these efforts have been far too limited, insisting that FERC instead launch a far more extensive inquiry into whether the RTOs' organized markets are producing "unjust and unreasonable" wholesale electricity prices. Thus far, FERC has refused those calls, and now APPA and ELCON have teamed up with 16 other groups to increase the pressure on the commission to make further reforms.

"We have now passed a decade in which the FERC has been trying and failing to make the electricity market work in the theoretical image of competition," said Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America, a coalition member. "We are asking it to put the horse back in front of the cart, to put consumer protection where it belongs, at the center of its mission."

The coalition said its new campaign is aimed at educating consumers, businesses and the media "on the failures of restructured electricity markets." The coalition also encouraged consumers to contact their senators and representatives in the hopes that Congress will convince FERC to re-examine the changes made to the wholesale electricity markets over the last few years "and take all necessary steps to protect consumers against unjust and unreasonable rates."

"Congress needs to put pressure on FERC, either through oversight hearings or legislation, to fulfill its obligation of ensuring fair and reasonable rates for electric consumers," the coalition explains on its Web site.

The coalition further insisted that changes made to the wholesale electricity markets over the past few years have not produced competition, but instead have resulted in "exorbitant profits" for power generators, excessively high electricity rates, and insufficient investment in new power plants and transmission lines.

In particular, the coalition claimed that market rules allow generators "to charge high rates for electricity regardless of the actual costs, even when consumers have already largely paid for the generating plants." The coalition further complained that retail rates in states that have deregulated their retail market structures have increased by twice as much as rates in regulated states over the last 10 years.

The coalition said that, as a starting point, RTO-run markets should at least produce just and reasonable prices, be fair to all market participants, and share the benefits of fuel diversity and operational efficiencies equitably between consumers and suppliers. In addition, the coalition called for "improved and more timely transparency and accountability to consumers" and "a consumer-focused system that assures reliability and capacity growth to meet our future needs."

"It's time to restore fairness to the electricity markets and protect consumers," said Mark Crisson, APPA's CEO. "We're asking Congress and the FERC to address this growing crisis."

More information on the campaign, including a list of coalition members, fact sheets and other resources, can be viewed at the coalition's Web site: http://www.fairelectricrates.net.