A judge dismissed a portion of a lawsuit trying to stop Georgia Power from charging its customers to build two nuclear reactors before they make electricity.

A superior court judge in Atlanta ruled the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy didn’t have legal standing to challenge the constitutionality of Georgia Power’s funding plan because customers hadn’t been charged yet.

"Even Georgia Power’s own document says that they filed of record show that costs will go up over nine dollars a month by 2017 for the typical homeowner," says SACE’s lawyer Michael Carvahlo," but it hasn’t happened yet and because it hasn’t happened yet, we have no standing to sue at this time."

Carvahlo says SACE is suing on other grounds later this month. It argues the Public Service Commission made administrative mistakes when it approved the $6.4 billion expansion last year.

Contributors: Associated Press

Tags: Georgia Power, nuclear reactors, Plant Vogtle, nuclear expansion, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy