Statement of Frank Knapp, president & CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce:
With Santee Cooper’s decision today likely to be followed by a similar SCE&G announcement tomorrow, there are two important issues needing to be addressed.
1. The business and residential ratepayers must be made whole for the increase in rates they have been paying since 2009 for the construction financing for the nuclear plants. The PSC must step up to this imperative which might be achieved by dramatically lowering SCE&G’s profits (return on equity) going forward on all matters.
2. The nuclear plants were to take care of about 80% of South Carolina’s carbon emissions goal under the Clean Power Plan. Regardless of the legal status of the CPP, the state must now find other ways to achieve this important goal to address climate change, which is driving rising seas and threatening our coastal economies. The leadership for this effort must come from the private sector and local governments.