SOUTHERN <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 <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.