South Carolina Spent $9 Billion on Nuclear Reactors That Will Never Run. Now What?

South Carolina Spent $9 Billion on Nuclear Reactors That Will Never Run. Now What?: "Instead, the fight in the legislature this year will be about whether to curtail additional payments going forward. Needless to say, the utilities are opposed to that idea. They insist they must collect the money, or they won’t be able to continue operating or have access to capital. They aren’t sympathetic actors, but Santee Cooper is state-owned so legislators will have to take its concerns seriously.

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Upstate Forever Adds Members | Greenville Business Magazine

Upstate Forever Adds Members | Greenville Business Magazine: "McCullough currently serves as senior manager, government relations & community for Piedmont Natural Gas, where he oversees legislative, policy, and grassroots activities relating to Piedmont’s operations in South Carolina and Western North Carolina. He is also responsible for local government interaction within Piedmont’s Upstate and Western North Carolina service areas and for coordination of the Company’s community, philanthropic, and economic development efforts.

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Upstate Forever Adds Members | Greenville Business Magazine

Upstate Forever Adds Members | Greenville Business Magazine: "McCullough currently serves as senior manager, government relations & community for Piedmont Natural Gas, where he oversees legislative, policy, and grassroots activities relating to Piedmont’s operations in South Carolina and Western North Carolina. He is also responsible for local government interaction within Piedmont’s Upstate and Western North Carolina service areas and for coordination of the Company’s community, philanthropic, and economic development efforts.

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Georgia Power to finish two nuclear units after PSC vote - Electric Power | Platts News Article & Story

Georgia Power to finish two nuclear units after PSC vote - Electric Power | Platts News Article & Story: "The Georgia Public Service Commission Thursday morning unanimously approved a revised cost and schedule for the project that would bring the units online in 2020 and 2021, four years later than initially scheduled, but curb profits the company could collect.
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Ratepayers at center of dispute over failed nuclear project in SC | The State

Ratepayers at center of dispute over failed nuclear project in SC | The State: "The S.C. Public Service Commission denied SCE&G’s request to throw out a legal case that seeks to eliminate charges customers now pay for the shuttered project. The commission also agreed not to dismiss a case that seeks potentially billions of dollars in customer refunds from SCE&G.

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Electric cooperatives want SC to consider Santee Cooper sale | The State

Electric cooperatives want SC to consider Santee Cooper sale | The State: "An association of South Carolina’s 20 electric cooperatives, which serve 1.5 million S.C. residents in all 46 counties, has asked legislators to form a special committee to accept and evaluate offers for the maligned utility.

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Second round of Santee Cooper employees headed to U.S. Virgin Is - WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather

Second round of Santee Cooper employees headed to U.S. Virgin Is - WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather: "13 employees have volunteered their time and efforts to head to the island of St. Croix bright and early Wednesday morning. Power has been knocked out on the island since Hurricane Maria, about 3 months ago.

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Pacolet Milliken could buy Santee Cooper after nuclear mess | The State

Pacolet Milliken could buy Santee Cooper after nuclear mess | The State: "Greenville-based Pacolet Milliken, a family-owned investment company, is considering a bid to purchase some or all of the state-owned utility – which some S.C. leaders want to sell after its nuclear fiasco.

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Lawyer seeks to halt $87 million of SCANA dividend payments amid questions about its financial health | Business | postandcourier.com

Lawyer seeks to halt $87 million of SCANA dividend payments amid questions about its financial health | Business | postandcourier.com: "Bell’s request raises questions about the company's "fiscal health," just days after SCANA officials said they could be forced to seek bankruptcy protection if regulators punish them too harshly. Regulators are considering how much customers should pay for the company's costly nuclear project, which was canceled in July.

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South Carolina utility watchdog Dukes Scott to retire after failed V.C. Summer project | Business | postandcourier.com

South Carolina utility watchdog Dukes Scott to retire after failed V.C. Summer project | Business | postandcourier.com: "Dukes Scott, the head of the Office of Regulatory Staff, told The Post and Courier he would retire on Jan. 15. Scott’s agency is tasked with overseeing power companies and representing their customers when they ask for rate increases.

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FCC Commissioner, SC native: 'I dissent' to internet neutrality plan - South Carolina Radio Network

FCC Commissioner, SC native: 'I dissent' to internet neutrality plan - South Carolina Radio Network: "“I’m afraid that the direction that we are about to head on December 14 will see only the persons with the largest wallets will be able to have the best access, the best service and the most priority,” Clyburn said.

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Santee Cooper chair will resign, won’t let McMaster fire him | The State

Santee Cooper chair will resign, won’t let McMaster fire him | The State: "“I think we’ll win in court on this, but the day after we win, I’m going to resign,” Leighton Lord told me Tuesday. Challenging the governor’s order is “not about me being on the board. It’s not about me keeping this position. It’s about making sure the law is intact and me going back to private life.”

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PSC considers cut in utility rates for bungled nuclear plant | The State

PSC considers cut in utility rates for bungled nuclear plant | The State: "“There are real limits to what we can do here without causing the company to become insolvent,’’ SCE&G attorney Belton Zeigler said, noting that the power bill reduction could cost the utility $450 million annually and bring it to the brink of bankruptcy.

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Live Streaming Schedule for Oral Arguments on ORS / SCE&G Hearing

Home Page - Public Service Commission:



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Power Failure: How utilities across the U.S. changed the rules to make big bets with your money | News | postandcourier.com

Power Failure: How utilities across the U.S. changed the rules to make big bets with your money | News | postandcourier.com: "Over the past decade, state legislatures across the country rewrote rule books for how power companies pay for new power plants, shifting financial risks away from electric companies to you and everyone else.

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S.C. utility regulators could cut bills for SCE&G customers before legislature returns to Columbia | Business | postandcourier.com

S.C. utility regulators could cut bills for SCE&G customers before legislature returns to Columbia | Business | postandcourier.com: "The state Public Service Commission will hold a hearing on Tuesday to discuss whether the parent company of South Carolina Electric & Gas should stop collecting $37 million a month for two unfinished nuclear reactors at V.C. Summer station north of Columbia. 

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SCANA, SCE&G offers to give VC Summer nuclear site to Santee Cooper | The State

SCANA, SCE&G offers to give VC Summer nuclear site to Santee Cooper | The State: "Santee Cooper is wary that accepting full ownership would stick its customers with the full cost of maintaining two unfinished reactors at the Fairfield County site. It also objects to a part of SCANA’s proposal that would bar Santee Cooper from suing Cayce-based SCANA over the nuclear fiasco.

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Confidential Westinghouse report details early faults with nuclear projects | Business | postandcourier.com

Confidential Westinghouse report details early faults with nuclear projects | Business | postandcourier.com: "The Post and Courier today published a confidential report that warned six years ago that Westinghouse Electric wasn't prepared to build four new nuclear reactors in Georgia and South Carolina. 

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McMaster threatens firing Santee Cooper chief for not cooperating in nuclear failure probe | WCIV

McMaster threatens firing Santee Cooper chief for not cooperating in nuclear failure probe | WCIV: "McMaster wrote a letter Friday to Santee Cooper Chairman Leighton Lord, saying he plans to remove him in 10 days unless Lord responds by next Friday.
McMaster says he thinks Lord has purposefully not turned over all the documents he has asked for concerning the two nuclear reactors that were being built at the V.C. Summer plant."



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State senators file bills in face of $9 billion nuclear fiasco in South Carolina | Business | postandcourier.com

State senators file bills in face of $9 billion nuclear fiasco in South Carolina | Business | postandcourier.com: "The effort would also cut 18 percent off the monthly bills for SCANA customers, which currently covers the ongoing financing costs for the reactors. And it would drop Santee Cooper's electric rates by 4.3 percent — the amount currently collected every month to cover the $4 billion in bonds that the company issued for the project. 

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Crisis of abandoned SC nuclear plants paves way for smart energy policy | The State

Crisis of abandoned SC nuclear plants paves way for smart energy policy | The State: "Energy efficiency isn’t just an environmental issue — more efficiency means less need for expensive new plants like V.C. Summer. Spending money on efficiency improvements may mean higher rates, but it will mean lower electric bills because consumers will use less electricity. "



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Duke Energy customer information may have been compromised > GSA Business

Duke Energy customer information may have been compromised > GSA Business: "Duke Energy Carolinas customers who paid a bill at one of the company’s 550 authorized walk-in payment processing centers between 2008 and 2017 may be affected by a potential compromise of personally identifiable information.

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Electric cooperatives want recognition from S.C. lawmakers on nuclear plant failure | Business | postandcourier.com

Electric cooperatives want recognition from S.C. lawmakers on nuclear plant failure | Business | postandcourier.com: ""If you think you are going to get results for all of your voters — and I call them voters on purpose — you are missing half of them if you think you can only beat up on SCE&G," Couick said referring to SCANA's subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. "Beating up on SCE&G — deservedly or not — doesn't do anything for my co-op members." 

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New solar park marks SCE&G’s completion of state-established goal > Columbia Business Report

New solar park marks SCE&G’s completion of state-established goal > Columbia Business Report: "Tuesday’s dedication of the Otarre Solar Park marked SCE&G’s achievement of a goal established in the 2014 South Carolina Distributed Resource Program Act, or Act 236, which sets a goal for utilities to produce 42 megawatts of utility-scale solar power by 2020.

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Fresh Controversy Hits Southern Company's Vogtle: What Next? - Nasdaq.com

Fresh Controversy Hits Southern Company's Vogtle: What Next? - Nasdaq.com: "Georgia's regulatory staff has raised questions regarding The Southern Company 's SO Vogtle Project.They are of the opinion that the project is getting overtly expensive and should be called off unless Southern Company and Georgia Power bear part of the ballooning cost. Georgia Power is of the belief that customers should bear the additional cost of the project. This is in sharp contrast with the views of the regulatory staff who believe that such inflated cost would be a burden on customers. They believe that once the project is completed ratepayers are likely to bear higher costs with reduced benefits and hence want to pull the plug on the project.

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Saudis invite US firms to develop multi-billion-dollar nuclear power projects

Seriously??

Saudis invite US firms to develop multi-billion-dollar nuclear power projects: "Reuters has reported that Westinghouse is in talks with other U.S.-based companies to form a consortium for a multi-billion-dollar project to build two reactors and that those firms are pushing Washington to restart talks with Riyadh on a civil nuclear cooperation pact.

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Engineering report says it would have cost $4.7 billion more to complete SC nuclear project, agency says | The State

Engineering report says it would have cost $4.7 billion more to complete SC nuclear project, agency says | The State:

That revised price tag was submitted to the Fairfield County project’s main contractor nine months before the partners in that effort — the Cayce-based SCANA utility and state-owned Santee Cooper utility — abandoned it.

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SCE&G employees suffer as nuclear fiasco unfolds, SCANA drops | The State

SCE&G employees suffer as nuclear fiasco unfolds, SCANA drops | The State: "“I told him I didn’t like it either, but there wasn’t anything I could do or you could do about it,” said Amick, who has spent the past 39 years fixing power lines in Lexington County for the Cayce-based utility."



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