As Mississippi Power Co., Public Utilities Staff and others struggle to come to an equitable agreement, the utility’s CEO maintains that the power plant was and will continue to be an asset to the area.

“This is the biggest project in the history of Mississippi,” said Mississippi Power Chairman, President and CEO Anthony L. Wilson, who visited The Meridian Star on Monday. “Can you imagine what the recession of 2009 would have been had we not invested $7 billion in Mississippi?”

Wilson said the lignite coal gasification operation was far from a failure. One of the problems, he said, was the decrease in the price of natural gas, mainly due to fracking. If money was “unlimited, I think we would have gotten there,” he said.

“The plant worked — it did exactly what we wanted it to do,” Wilson said. “The problem was we could never make the process work consistently.”

Mississippi Power spokesman Jeff Shepard said more than 560 companies provided services and equipment to the project.

In late June, Mississippi Power announced it was suspending its lignite coal gasification operation at the Kemper plant.

Per an order from the Mississippi Public Service Commission, the plant will be relicensed as a natural gas facility — which means hundreds of jobs lost.

Wilson said since the utility issued Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, there are about 125 employees “actively working at the site,” down from 285. About 60 employees have since been “absorbed” by the companies and sent to other locations, while 100 have “released” since the WARN was issued. Once the plant is fully converted to a natural gas facility, there will be 40-45 employees left at the plant.

Meanwhile, the commission on Tuesday said it would decide by the beginning of next year how much Mississippi Power customers should pay for the $7.5 billion power plant in Kemper County.

Since Mississippi Power Co., the Public Utilities Staff and others have been unable to reach a settlement, commissioners have set a Dec. 4 hearing to decide how much customers should pay for the natural gas part of the plant unless settlement talks resume.

In response, Mississippi Power said its most recent filing was equitable enough.

“We will continue discussing reasonable outcomes to the Kemper settlement docket, but we do believe the agreement we filed in August is a fair resolution for all parties concerned,” according to a statement from Mississippi Power. Items in said agreement include removal of risk to customers for the gasifier and related assets, no rate increase and operation of the Kemper plant as a 700-megawatt natural gas facility.

According to a Mississippi Power statement, “We believe the facts contained in the company’s filing demonstrate that Mississippi Power is operating in the best interest of customers and what is required to ensure the company’s financial stability.”

The commission in July ordered the utility and other parties to reach a settlement concerning the plant within 45 days. The order included relicensing the plant as a natural gas facility and ensuring that rates do not increase. The commission also suggested that customers see a decrease in rates.

Mississippi Power and Public Utilities Staff were unable to reach a settlement by Aug. 21, so the commission extended the deadline to Sept. 5, which has since passed.

According to a recent Associated Press report, Mississippi Power says it wants customers to pay for $277 million more in assets than the Public Utilities Staff believes is necessary.

Atlanta-based Southern Co., the parent company of Mississippi Power, announced recently that it would absorb an additional $2.8 billion in losses from the Kemper County power plant’s lignite coal operation — bringing the total to nearly $6 billion in losses.

Charges recorded through May 2017 were $3.07 billion, according to a statement from Mississippi Power.