Aug 30 (Reuters) - Georgia Power said on Wednesday it has filed an application with the state's utility regulator to increase electricity rates, aiming to recover costs related to its nuclear power plant units.

The power company said the application provides the necessary support to justify the recovery of $8.83 billion in total construction and capital costs, $1.07 billion in associated retail rate base items and operating costs related to the full operation and output of Vogtle nuclear plant's unit 3 and 4.

Unit 3 of the Vogtle plant entered commercial operation at the end of July.

Southern Co, via its electric subsidiary Georgia Power, is expected to bring Vogtle plant's unit 4 online at the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024.

Following which, the new units would collectively bring an additional generation capacity of 2.2 gigawatt to the State of Georgia and are expected to run for 60 to 80 years.

The Vogtle reactors are the only nuclear units under construction in the United States. The owners include Georgia Power (45.7%), Oglethorpe Power (30%), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (22.7%) and Dalton Utilities (1.6%).

The start up of the reactors has been hailed as a major milestone in U.S. nuclear power construction, but the units arrived more than seven years later than originally planned and at a budget of more than double the preliminary projected cost at over $30 billion. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)