This Op-Ed, written by PPI Senior Fellow Oran Smith, PhD, was originally published in The Post & Courier. The graphic was created by PPI and not included in the Post & Courier’s publication. Click to enlarge. In the case of Jessica Cook et al., a South Carolina court approved a settlement between state-owned Santee Cooper,
Earlier this week, the state Department of Administration (DOA) released its long-anticipated report presenting three possible options for the future of Santee Cooper.
Before the bell rang on the 2019 legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that set the stage for a potential sale of Santee Cooper in 2020. The bill stipulated that the Department of Administration would receive proposals to (1) sell the state-owned utility, (2) management offers, and (3) a proposal from Santee Cooper to reform themselves.
The manufacturing process for Century Aluminum is extremely electricity dependent, requiring at full capacity 400 megawatts of electricity per year. That level of use (400 megawatts would power 80,000 homes) means that electricity is about 40% of the cost of operating the plant, its single highest expense. Unfortunately, high energy costs risk putting it out of business.
Two years ago today, Santee Cooper and SCE&G announced that they were abandoning construction of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station units 2 and 3.
Throughout the fall of 2017, as another football season came and went, PPI watched and waited for someone—anyone—to step up for Santee Cooper customers. Thanks to the actions of two special legislative committees, the public did learn a lot about the demise of V.C. Summer, but there was a clear message: tackle SCE&G first, then Santee Cooper.
Thursday, the South Carolina Senate made significant progress on the Santee Cooper issue. A Joint Resolution, H.4287, passed by a vote of 42-1. It now goes back to the South Carolina House of Representatives.
Why do key business and government leaders believe a sale of Santee Cooper is in the best interest of consumers?
PPI’s priorities got a boost this week when key players made it clear that the time for action has come. Kudos to them.
This article was originally published in The State and was written by PPI’s Dr. Oran Smith. State-owned utility Santee Cooper has a long, rich history. It was Santee Cooper that literally sent light into darkness, bringing power to our rural communities at a time when no other utility would take the risk. Unfortunately, the more
