February 17, 2019 Senate subcommittee votes Wednesday Feb.20th at 12:30PM This Wednesday a Senate subcommittee will hold a public hearing on Senate Bill 110, a bill that would allow utilities to issue low-interest bonds in a process called “securitization”, a process not currently legal in the state. This financing tool…
Seismic Testing off our pristine coast: Who’s picking up the tab for legal fees?
(From Beaufort, SC, Mayor Billy Keyserling’s Newsletter) 16 SC Cities and Towns, of which Beaufort was the first to sign up, are in Federal District Court in Charleston opposing permits issued to allow seismic testing. The Cities and Towns are joined in the suit by hundreds of small businesses, led…
On offshore drilling, Mark Sanford and Joe Cunningham find their legacies are linked
The State Myrtle Beach Sun News Hilton Head Island Packet Anderson Independent Mail February 16, 2019 By Emma Dumain Mark Sanford was already out of office, settling back into civilian life by unpacking boxes of files and odds and ends from his years in Congress and the S.C. Governor’s Mansion,…
PSC costs ratepayers $31.7M. Regulators side with Dominion on rate cuts
Lexington County Chronicle February 14, 2019 By Jerry Bellune A state regulators’ ruling will cost Dominion Energy ratepayers $31.7 million. The ratepayers will receive $67 million in lower rates from the federal tax cuts which began last year. Had the Public Service Commission followed Office of Regulatory Staff findings, ratepayers…
SC did not expand Medicaid under Obamacare, but cost and enrollment are growing anyway
Charleston Post and Courier February 10, 2019 By Jerrel Floyd South Carolina is one of 14 states that continues to turn down federal money to expand eligibility for the low-income Medicaid program. But an analysis by The Post and Courier found the statewide program has grown substantially in recent years…
Tax returns are coming in…..
Federal tax reform hurriedly pushed through Congress in late 2017 and signed into law in December of that year was to give every American family a $4000 pay raise by cutting their taxes. Remember that? To anyone who was really paying attention to what was in the new law, that…
Subcommittee Proposes Extending Net Metering for Now. Wants to pass off all other solar/efficiency decisions to PSC.
Yesterday the House Public Utilities Subcommittee received a new draft of H.3659, the “South Carolina Energy Freedom Act”. The Subcommittee decided to finish the new language in the draft and hopes to vote it out next week and have it immediately taken up by the full LCI Committee also next…
Bill to cut $151M in rates
Dominion could lose $227 million in profit on loans Lexington County Chronicle February 7, 2019 By Jerry Bellune State lawmakers can cut ratepayers’ costs $151 million for SCANA’s $9 billion nuclear failure. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey’s bill will let the state secure $2.3 billion in bonds to pay off…
Green New Deal
Today Senator Ed Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a resolution in the US Senate and House in support of a Green New Deal. You can read the resolution here.
Small Business Chamber Letter on Solar Bill
The below letter was delivered to all the members of the Public Utilities subcommittee regarding support for H.3659, the “South Carolina Energy Freedom Act” February 6, 2019 Re: H.3659, South Carolina Energy Freedom Act Dear Representative, The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce strongly encourages your support of H.3659,…