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The Fate of SCE&G's Nuclear Charges To Be Determined Next Month

V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3 Aerial View, Jan. 2017.
SCANA

The question of who will pay for the failed V.C. Summer nuclear reactor project is now in the hands of the seven-member S.C. Public Service Commission, the state’s official utility rate setting authority.

Last week, the PSC completed three weeks of contentious hearings on how much South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. should be allowed to charge its over 700,000 electric ratepayers for the abandoned reactors.  They’ve already paid in over $2 Billion.

Ever since the $ 9 Billion nuclear reactor project was scrubbed in the summer of 2017, a little known state law has allowed SCE&G to continue to charge for the project.  The state legislature repealed that law earlier this year and instructed the PSC to set a new, permanent rate by December 21.

Russ McKinney has 30 years of experience in radio news and public affairs. He is a former broadcast news reporter in Spartanburg, Columbia and Atlanta. He served as Press Secretary to former S.C. Governor Dick Riley for two terms, and for 20 years was the chief public affairs officer for the University of South Carolina.