The State
September 2, 2016
By Roddie Burris
SCE&G reached a proposed settlement agreement Thursday with state regulators and several parties contesting a proposed change in the construction contract at the V.C Summer Nuclear Station in Fairfield County, the utility said.
Under the proposed settlement, which must be approved by the South Carolina Public Service Commission, the requested increase in the cost of constructing the plant would be cut to $831 million; Westinghouse Electric’s portion of the additional cost would be fixed at $505 million, with SCE&G shareholders or Westinghouse picking up any additional overruns; and SCANA’s return on equity to shareholders would be cut from 10.50 percent beginning in 2017 to 10.25 percent.
SCE&G, the principal subsidiary of SCANA Corp., last year asked state regulators to convert the deal for completing two new nuclear reactors at the Summer plant to a fixed price contract and to raise the remaining construction cost of the $11 billion project by another $852 million.
Several parties, including the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff, electric cooperatives that purchase electrical power from SCE&G partner Santee Cooper, South Carolina Energy Users Committee and Small Business Chamber of Commerce CEO Frank Knapp Jr., filed grievances against the requests.
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