State-owned utility rates going up after failed reactors

This article was originally published in the WACH Fox 57 on March 21, 2018.

The state-owned utility says rates will be going up after the failed nuclear project in South Carolina last year.

Media outlets reported that Santee Cooper said Wednesday it expects rates to go up 7 percent because of the decision to abandon construction of two reactors in Fairfield County last July.

Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. abandoned the project after the bankruptcy of lead contractor Westinghouse.

Santee Cooper’s statement comes after a conservative group released a report Tuesday saying rates could go up nearly 14 percent in order to pay its share of the debt.

The Palmetto Promise Institute said Santee Cooper should be sold. Gov. Henry McMaster has been pushing that idea since August.

Santee Cooper has said previously it won’t raise rates before 2020.