ENERGY
-Reduce the energy needs of low income households to reduce the needs for more energy generation and put more money into local economies creating jobs. The Tennessee Valley Authority recently reported on its program that averaged a 25% reduction in energy use by participating low income households. The Legislature should create a study committee to review the current effectiveness of South Carolina efforts in this area and recommend changes and new sources of operating revenue.
-Protect the 25,000 small businesses that receive their electricity directly from Santee Cooper from significant rate increases. Santee Cooper’s new rate design is projected to result in approximately 44% of these small businesses seeing utility bills increase by 10%-100% without incentivizing reduced energy use during peak demand periods. The Legislature should immediately hold a hearing on this new rate design, scheduled to go into effect on April 1, 2024, if the Santee Cooper Board refuses to make a change.
-Protect South Carolina consumers from paying for the costly new electric generation needs for AI data centers. South Carolina does not need AI data centers in the state to benefit from the new technology. Thus, the state should not be encouraging these data centers to locate here and should require the data centers to pay for the new generation they need and not put that burden on the other customer classes. Specifically:
- Prohibit the state and political subdivisions from using any funds for incentives for new or expanded AI data centers.
- Prohibit the SC Public Service Commission (PSC) from approving any provision to reduce electric rates for AI data centers.
- Require all new and expanded AI data centers to self-produce a minimum of 50% of their energy and capacity needs with clean energy like solar and battery storage.
- Prohibit the PSC from socializing any AI data center related utility costs to other consumer groups. There must be no cost-shifting.
-Use solar to replace much of the projected lost energy generation from retiring coal plants with solar at those sites. Santee Cooper President and CEO Jimmy Staton has testified that solar arrays are an opportunity being ignored. Privately he has acknowledged that such solar generation can be both land-based and cooling pond floating arrays. Advantages of solar generation at retiring coal plants:
- There is no land occupancy, a major complaint about large solar farms.
- There are no new transmission lines needed outside the physical plant of the retired generation facility. Existing transmission lines for the power plant would be used for distribution. This saves enormous costs and would not require any land occupancy, another hurdle for solar farms.
- This works very well with battery storage to keep feeding electricity 24-7.
- The installation time is very short when all components are ready.
The legislature should instruct Santee Cooper to develop a comprehensive plan for constructing floating solar arrays at its operating and retired energy generation facilities. The legislature should also ask the PSC to instruct the state’s investor-owned utilities to do the same.
-Integrate a battery system in the state’s electric grid to “make power faster, more affordable and more reliable”. Georgia Power has put in place an innovative battery system that delivers dispatchable energy quickly and at a lower cost of generation during peak demand periods. The Legislature should instruct the Public Service Commission and the Office of Regulatory Staff to develop an integrated battery system proposal for the state’s electric grid.
-Site new generation where transmission lines are already located, and gas lines are relatively close in order to reduce the cost of new generation. The Legislature should recommend that the Public Service Commission should weigh proximity to existing transmission and gas lines when approving new generation facilities.
-Conduct a feasibility study on finishing VC Summer Unit 2, at no cost to ratepayers, if additional generation is needed for new industry and AI data centers. This should be done with no additional cost to ratepayers that are currently paying for the abandoned nuclear plants.
-Keep the decisions regarding new generation facility locations and size in the Public Service Commission.
-Do not authorize the Public Service Commission to waive the normal notice and hearing requirements of the certificate process for a proposed major generation facility.
-Do not authorize utilities to begin initial clearing, excavation, dredging, and initial construction until a certificate by the Public Service Commission for a facility is approved.
-Do not allow any class of electric or gas customers, including transformational customers, rates lower than marginal costs to produce the energy. To do so means the marginal costs not covered by the favored user is socialized to all other customers driving up their rates.
-Do not allow for the socialization to all customers the energy infrastructure costs for specific new industrial customers by putting those costs into the general rate base before or after the facilities are placed into service.
-Require that energy efficiency and demand side management programs currently being conducted by utilities evaluated for their effectiveness compared to different models.
HEALTHCARE
–Create a Healthcare Market Reform Measures Study Committee to look at potential reforms that would make healthcare in South Carolina more efficient, effective and less costly. This is critical for the 79% of small businesses in the state with fewer than 50 employees that do not offer employer based health insurance due to cost. The goal is healthier employees who will be more productive.
MUNICIPAL ELECTION METHOD CHOICE
-Allow municipalities to reduce the cost of local elections. Give the 150 South Carolina municipalities using the runoff voting method the option to use an election method that achieves the same results faster, cheaper, and better. Over 50 local and state governments nationwide have switched to instant runoff voting that results in a majority winner without runoffs, which are costly both in terms of taxpayer dollars, staffing efforts and voter effort. Instant runoff voting is endorsed by the SC Municipal Association.