Just days after filing a few changes to its petition for a special electricity rate to reopen its Ravenswood smelter, Century Aluminum President and CEO Michael Bless reported "progress" during a quarterly conference call July 24.
"We continue to spend significant time and efforts to create the right conditions to restart the plant," Bless said of the Ravenswood facility that closed in 2009.
"What we're looking for there is an arrangement that would smooth the power price over time, and in effect, protect the plant in periods of weak commodity time."
Century reported a net loss of $12.3 million for the second quarter of 2012.
According to a news release from Century, changes to the Century of West Virginia retiree medical benefits program increased quarterly results by $8.9 million "with an associated discrete tax benefit of $2.1 million."
Several of Century's July 20 filings with the West Virginia Public Service Commission claimed to include more risk for the company to insulate all other Appalachian Power customers from absorbing the aluminum smelter's costs as a response to the poor response the original petition received from the public.
Bless did not mention any change in the petition during the conference call.
"A decision (about an electricity price) is due in mid-September, so we should have a good sense over the next couple of weeks where we might be headed," Bless said during the call.
Bless spent a lot of time discussing the struggles at Century's Hawesville, Ky., plant because of a power price he said has made the plant no longer viable.
"One of the things we'll be working on significantly is the power situation," Bless said about the Hawesville plant. "We're spending a lot of time to solve that."
Bless said both the Hawesville and Ravenswood plants would be good investments for the company, but both need long-term power rates that give the company confidence to invest in the long term.
"We're managing capital tightly in these times," he said.
A participant in the call asked Bless if the company still planned to open the Ravenswood plant if market aluminum prices stayed flat.
Bless said it would depend on the power rate, but if the rate the company has asked for is approved, the answer would probably be yes.
"With the floating rate there, the variable rate in that application … that would allow the plant to operate at (London Metals Exchange) prices," Bless said. "It'll all depend upon what we hear back from the PSC."
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