A rising cost estimate for Mississippi Power's integrated gasification combined-cycle project has rattled the state's utility regulators, but the Southern Co. subsidiary is standing firm on its plan to complete the project on which 2,000 craftsmen and other workers are now employed.

Concerned that the Mississippi Supreme Court's mid-March decision to throw out the regulatory approval the state's Public Service Commission had granted Mississippi Power's $2.4-billion-plus integrated gasification combined-cycle project nearly two years ago, the PSC held a special meeting March 30 at which two of its three members voted to grant the project a "temporary" certificate.