WPPSS - A History

1971: WPPSS starts borrowing money to build nuclear plants, and launches construction on one plant, Project 2.

1975: Construction starts on four additional nuclear plants.

1982: After years of huge cost overruns, two nuclear plants, Projects 4 and 5, are cancelled. Construction on Projects 1 and 3 is halted and the projects are mothballed.

1983: The biggest municipal bond default ever, $2.25 billion, occurs after the Washington State Supreme Court rules that several municipal utilities that backed the bonds for Projects 4 and 5 had no legal authority to repay investors. Bondholders eventually get about 10 cents back on the dollar.

1984: Project 2 begins operating.

1989: The utility returns to the bond market for the first of 14 refinancings.

1994: Projects 1 and 3 are formally cancelled.

1999: WPPSS cuts its price of power from 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour in 1994 to just above two cents, and cuts employees from 1,800 to about 1,100.

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