Lexington County Chronicle
August 16, 2018
By Jerry Bellune
Dominion Energy is playing a deceptive game, a state business leader says.
SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce CEO Frank Knapp accused the Virginia utility of trying to fool SCANA ratepayers.
“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,” he said.
A Dominion spokesperson denied an assertion that only SCE&G customers with an account on the day of the sale would be entitled to a check.
Knapp said that on page 24 of the Dominion-SCANA merger petition it 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.”
Knapp said, “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 spokesman Chet Wade labeled Knapp’s statement as “false”.
WIS reported Wade said customers who had an account in 2016 and moved would still receive a check, as long as 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.”