A day many abused SCANA ratepayers have long looked forward to arrives next Tuesday.

Ex-SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh, 65, will be sentenced on federal fraud charges. He has agreed to:

• A minimum of 18 months in prison but could get as much as 10 years.

• Forfeit $5 million in bonuses he was paid by the SCANA board for his management of the $10 billion nuclear fiasco.

According to papers filed in US District Court in SC, Marsh helped lead a 2-year cover-up of the financial nightmare that wrecked the twin nuclear reactor project and SCANA, according to evidence in the case.

Federal Judge Mary Geiger Lewis will hear Marsh’s plea and decide his sentence.

At an earlier sentencing hearing, Marsh’s right hand man, COO Stephen Byrne, failed to apologize to the people of South Carolina, said Savannah River Watch Director Tom Clements, an opponent of the $2.2 billion nuclear rate hikes.

“Mr. Marsh will now get his 1st public chance to own up to the damage he did to our state and publicly apologize,” Clements said.

Under the plea agreement, Marsh will likely face a prison term of 18 to 36 months.

Conspiracy and obtaining property under false pretenses charges expose him to a maximum of 10 years, according to court records.

The more he helps an ongoing investigation of others at SCANA, the greater his chances are of a lower prison sentence, according to case documents.

“As construction problems mounted, costs rose, and schedules slipped, Marsh ... hid the true state of the project,” a US document reads.

“Through intentional and material misrepresentations and omissions, the defendant, Kevin Marsh, deceived regulators and customers in order to maintain financing for the project and to financially benefit SCANA,” the information said.

State regulators on the Public Service Commission allowed Marsh and his associates to charge Lexington County and other state ratepayers $2.2 billion for a nuclear project that would never deliver a single kilowatt of electricity.

Marsh’s long cover-up enabled him and other SCANA officials to collect generous salaries and bonuses.