Happy Friday!

This is the first of an ongoing weekly post – “Inside the Dome” – that will provide happenings at the Kemper Clean Coal Plant over the past week all in one place! Be sure to visit the blog weekly to see what has been going on!

1. Opportunities to submit entries in our Mississippi Innovation Photo contest has closed; however, there is still time to vote on your favorite phtograph. We had 26 entries so please check them out and vote here. Voting closes on August 20th and three lucky winners will receive $100 gift cards!
2. On August 9, 2015 the Kemper County energy facility has hit yet another milestone! Kemper’s combined cycle marked one year of operations and reliable service to Mississippi Power customers. Placed into service on August 9, 2014, Kemper’s combined cycle operations have delivered more than 3.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and saved Mississippi Power customers more than $15 million, having displaced other higher cost methods of generation. “When called upon by Mississippi Power customers, the Kemper combined cycle has been available for service nearly 99 percent of the time this year,” Kemper Plant Manager Jeff Parsley said. “It’s performed exceptionally well and I couldn’t be prouder of our operations and maintenance teams for their efforts.” Already in 2015, the unit has operated more than 5,000 hours and produced 2.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. That’s enough energy to supply more than 170,000 homes for a year. See Mississippi Power’s offical release here.
3. On August 13, 2015, the Mississippi Public Service Commission voted to grant Mississippi Power Company an immediate emergency 18% increase in rates. Commissioners voted two to one to allow for the increase. The vote comes one week after a public hearing on the company’s request to raise its rates. This rate increase is a temporary one until November when a prudency hearing will be held on this rate increase. A final vote will then be held in December to make this permanent.

Have a great weekend!