Press Release
March 8, 2023
Contact:
Frank Knapp
803-600-6874
Protects Dominion customer rates and competition
SC Small Business Chamber supports settlement
Columbia, SC—The SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce (SCSBCC) has submitted a letter to the SC Public Service Commission supporting a settlement in Dominion Energy South Carolina’s (DESC) proposed on-bill financing plan for commercial customers who want to buy and install Electric Vehicles (EV) charging facilities.
In that letter SCSBCC indicates the importance of increasing the number of EV charging facilities in the state.
The SCSBCC fully supports the effort to ramp up the number of EV Charging Facilities in South Carolina. This is critical for all consumers, including small businesses, to purchase or lease EVs both for the financial benefit of reducing transportation costs as well as promoting a healthier, less carbon-intensive environment, the latter being important for addressing sea level rise that threatens our coastal small business tourism economy.
The settlement agreed to by DESC and the SC Office of Regulatory Staff achieves two objectives of the SCSBCC.
First, we want to ensure that the costs of the proposed DESC EV Charging Facilities pilot are not put in the rate base for any DESC customers.
Second, we want to ensure that small businesses are not excluded from competing for the sale and installation of EV charging facilities for any customers that do not want to participate in this DESC on-bill pilot financing program.
“We appreciate DESC’s commitment to financing EV charging opportunities in South Carolina and doing it in a way that protects all its customers from potential increased rates as well as the ability of private businesses to compete in the growing industry,” said Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of the SCSBCC. “This is the model that should be followed by Duke Energy and Santee Cooper.”
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