April 22, 2019
The South Carolina Senate has placed S.678 on special order for Tuesday, April 23rd.
This bill calls for the SC Department of Administration to conduct a competitive bidding process for the sale of Santee Cooper. It establishes criteria for the evaluation of proposals and calls for a recommendation to the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees “regarding the bid that the department considers to be in the best interest of the State, its taxpayers, and the ratepayers of Santee Cooper. The legislature would vote on the sale.
The SC Small Business Chamber supports the sale of Santee Cooper if it can achieve these goals:
- Eliminate $7-$8 billion of Santee Cooper’s debt ($4 billion due to the failed nuclear project) so that ratepayers will never be responsible for payment on that debt. Santee Cooper direct customer are already paying 5% higher rates for the debt and the utility plans to raise rates another 7% starting in less than two years. Without a sale, a customer’s rate will be 12% higher than needed and they will pay between $6,200-$7,400 over the next 30 years for the debt.
- Elimination of the debt will protect the ratepayers of the state’s 20 electric cooperatives from paying about $4,200 over 30 years for Santee Cooper’s debt.
- The fast retirement of Santee Cooper’s aging coal plants and transition to less costly renewable energy and new generation gas plants. Reducing the utility’s carbon pollution is a top priority to fight climate change that is resulting in rising seas and flooding.
- A plan to protect the local economies and employees impacted by a sale.
Contact these key Senators below with this message:
Please vote for S.678 to establish a process for considering the sale of Santee Cooper to a private utility. The sale must eliminate the nearly $8 billion debt from responsibility of the ratepayers, set a fast timeline for retiring the coal plants and plan for protecting local economies and employees impacted by the sale.
The Honorable:
Luke Rankin lukerankin@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6610
Gerald Malloy geraldmalloy@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6172
Shane Massey shanemassey@scsenate.org (803) 212-6330
Katrina Shealy katrinashealy@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6320
Tom Young tomyoung@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6000
Ronnie Sabb ronniesabb@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6032
Michael Gambrell mikegambrell@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6040
Mike Fanning mikefanning@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6024
Mia McLeod mia@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6056
Sandy Senn sandysenn@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6116
Richard Cash richardcash@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6124
Dwight Loftis dwightloftis@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6100
Brad Hutto bradhutto@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6140
Chip Campsen chipcampsen@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6340
Thomas McElveen thomasmcelveen@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6132
Ross Turner rossturner@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6148
Marlon Kimpson marlonkimpson@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6132
Margie Bright Matthews margiebrightmatthews@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6108
Wes Climer wesclimer@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6016
Stephen Goldfinch stephengoldfinch@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6172
Rex Rice rexrice@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6116
Scott Talley scotttalley@scsenate.gov (803) 212-6048
Dick Harpootlian dickharpootlian@scsenate.gov (803)-212-6008