ATLANTA – A group of state lawmakers penned a letter pressing the utility partners behind Plant Vogtle to cap the costs of the project, which is billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

Twenty lawmakers signed on to the letter, which was sent Wednesday to Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Company and the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia. MEAG includes dozens of city utilities and electric co-ops, including Thomasville and Moultrie.

The lawmakers said they were concerned about the “the ever-escalating cost of Plant Vogtle and the unfair impact of these cost increases on our constituents,” who are customers of the EMCs and city utilities.

Georgia Power announced an additional $2.3 billion cost overrun last month. The utility said its shareholders would absorb its share of the increase – an option not available to its partners.

“This puts a disproportionate cost burden on EMC and city utility customers – our local utilities don’t have the luxury of shareholders to absorb these additional costs and will have to increase rates even higher,” the lawmakers wrote. “This approach is unfair and anti-competitive.”

The expansion project will add two nuclear reactors to the existing Vogtle nuclear power plant in Burke County. Work began in 2009, and the first unit was supposed to go live by 2016. It’s the only nuclear power plant under construction in the country.

Capping the cost is the fair thing to do, said Rep. Penny Houston, R-Nashville, whose district includes the City of Adel, which is a part of MEAG.

“If you do not cap the cost overruns, they would be at a disadvantage in attracting new industries for many years to come,” Houston said, referring to the other partners.

Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper, who also signed the letter, echoed those concerns. Calhoun Utilities, which is part of MEAG, is in Jasperse’s district.

Jasperse said he still sees Vogtle as a valuable project that will provide low-cost, reliable power in the future. He said he just wants to see the project finished.

“It puts structure and responsibility on the subsidiary of Southern to get it done and get it done at a reasonable cost,” Jasperse said, referring to the letter.

Jasperse was referring to Southern Nuclear, which the letter noted is an “unregulated subsidiary” of Southern Company, the parent company of Georgia Power. Southern Nuclear took over the project after Westinghouse went bankrupt last year.

In their letter, lawmakers did not hide their frustration with the company’s broken pledge to end the cost overruns.

The letter included several powerful state lawmakers, including House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones, R-Milton.

“Georgia legislators’ first priority, with respect to energy, is to have affordable, abundant energy,” Jones said Wednesday afternoon. “And that requires a balance of providing resources, which Plant Vogtle will, but also making sure it is affordable and that the burden for cost overruns are not only borne by the taxpayer.”

Other signers include Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla; Rep. John Corbett, R-Lake Park; Rep. Jason Shaw, R-Lakeland; Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville; and Rep. Clay Pirkle, R-Ashburn.

The letter was sent as MEAG, which owns 22.7 percent of the project, and Oglethorpe, which owns 30 percent, prepare to vote on whether to continue on with the project.

“A year ago, Georgia Power and all of the Vogtle co-owners entered a new contract to move forward with the project and everyone acknowledged and accepted all possible risks,” Georgia Power spokesman Craig Bell said in a statement.

“Georgia Power has voted to move forward, and we hope the co-owners will also vote in favor to fulfill their obligation,” he added.

The letter was not sent to Dalton Utilities, which owns a 1.6 percent stake in the project.