To those of us who followed Dominion Energy’s takeover of SC Electric & Gas, the withdrawal of their $1,000 bribe was no surprise.

We knew that could cost them up to $727 million if every SCE&G customer received $1,000. But that wasn’t going to happen either.

Even if Dominion made good on its promise, it had restrictions on who may get the cash.

We may never know how much that would have been.

They worked out a deal with their new good friends on the Public Service Commission to reduce rates $20 a month for 20 years – or $4,800 per ratepayer – if the PSC let them collect the rest for SCE&G’s $6 billion nuclear debacle.

Lawmakers from poor districts feel Dominion pulled a bait-and-switch scam. They sought support then reneged on promises. The ads urged calls to legislators to support selling SCE&G.

Now the PSC is being blamed for letting Dominion get away with this. They aren’t happy

The commissioners feel their bad judgment in agreeing to this new deal has damaged their already suffering reputation as protectors of the public.

At 10 am today, Dominion is to explain to the unhappy commissioners why it has not aggressively advertised its scrapping of the promised $1,000 as it did last year in offering it.

Dominion will run from “the $1,000 check scam advertising,” said Tom Clements of Friends of the Earth. They will “pat the PSC on the back for approving the plan that customers pay for the nuclear project for 20 years and to dishonestly declare that customers are better off with rates being imposed on them.

“The undertone will be that the ratepayer came out on top, even if untrue, and that Dominion is the best company for SCE&G customers in the future,” Clements said.

Dominion may do a new advertising blitz to show the PSC that they are good old boys.

$4,800 may sound bigger than $1,000. But you are paying for a fiasco while its creators live luxuriously in retirement.

– Jerry Bellune

$4,800 may sound bigger than $1,000 but you are still paying for a nuclear fiasco.