PRESS RELEASE
Date: August 9, 2018
From: South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce
Subject: Dominion Energy doubles down on effort to fool the SCE&G consumer
Contact: Frank Knapp, President/CEO, 803-252-5733 (w), 803-600-6874 (c),
fknapp@scsbc.org
Columbia, SC—Dominion Energy’s January 12, 2018, petition to merge with SCANA details how it will give SCE&G customers a check following the proposed merger. This week a spokesperson for the utility labeled as “false” an assertion that SCE&G customers without an account with the utility as of the day of the merger would not be entitled to a check from Dominion.
Page 24 the Dominion-SCANA merger petition states:
- All current SCE&G electric customers as of the date of Merger close will receive an aggregate up-front, one-time rate credit totaling $1.3 billion. The rate credit will be apportioned to all retail electric customer classes based on their 2016 contribution to summer adjusted peak demand as prepared by SCE&G…. Eligible customers shall be SCE&G retail electric customers as of record on the date of the close of the Merger.
On August 7, 2018, the President and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce held a press conference and made the following statement.
There’ll be thousands of customers of SCE&G who right now believe they’ll get a check but in reality, because of Dominion’s eligibility criteria, they will not get a check.
WIS-TV’s Ashleigh Holland reported that in response, Dominion Energy spokesperson Chet Wade labeled Mr. Knapp’s statement as “false”. According to the news report:
Wade said customers who had an account in 2016 and moved would still receive a check, as long they can be tracked through the mail.
“We have called Dominion’s offer to SCE&G customers a bad deal for ratepayers and have done the analysis to support our position,” said Knapp.
“Now we have Dominion doubling down on its effort to fool consumers by denying its own stated proposal. Clearly Dominion is not going to let the facts undermine its multi-million-dollar advertising campaign to influence the public at large and the SC Public Service Commission specifically,” said Knapp.
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The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce is a statewide advocacy organization founded in 2000. With over 10,000 small business and entrepreneur supporters, it has successfully worked to make South Carolina more small business friendly in areas such as healthcare, taxation, regulation, worker training, energy/conservation, workers’ compensation and economic development.