To Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, repairing relations with SCANA’s new owners won’t be easy.

“I don’t think Dominion understands just how difficult of a job that’s going to be,” said Massey, who represents western Lexington County voters.

“In some cases, bridges were not just burned, they were nuclear bombed.”

Gov. Henry McMaster set out Wednesday to repair relations between lawmakers and Dominion’s executives.

McMaster hosted a reception at the Governor’s Mansion. Invited reportedly were Dominion’s new Cayce managers, lawmakers, the governor’s cabinet, and others in economic development, according to the Global Technical Training Services website.

This is among the latest developments of intense legal negotiations and back-room political maneuvering.

Ratepayers have been angered when:

• SCANA abandoned its failed $9 billion nuclear project after promising it would lower costs but charged 727,000 ratepayer $2 billion for it in the highest electric rates in the US.

• What they called a “gutless” Public Service Commission approved Dominion buying SCANA.

That allowed local executives to bail out with golden parachutes worth an estimated $115 million.

• The PSC bowed to the wishes of House Speaker Jay Lucas, approved the sale and initially found that SCANA executives had not acted “imprudently” in managing the nuclear project. The PSC has since reversed that ruling.

• They realized the enormous influence SCANA and other utilities have on lawmakers and regulators.

Dominion, Virginia critics say, control their legislature and even write state laws.

That is what SCANA attorneys did here with the controversial law that allowed SCANA to raise rates 9 times in 9 years to pay for its construction failures.

This criticism rose again last month when it was learned that Dominion and NextEra were among the top sponsors for McMaster’s inaugural festivities.

NextEra of Florida is 1 of 4 utilities to submit proposals to buy taxpayer-owned Santee Cooper, SCANA’s 45% partner in the failed nuclear project.

The governor has sought buyers for Santee Cooper which is saddled with $8 billion in debt – $4 billion of it from the failed project.

Dominion has offered to manage Santee Cooper but not buy it.

Dominion has promised to lower electric rates about 15% or $22 a month for the average family. But it wants former SCANA ratepayers to pay another $2.3 billion – $1,600 for the average family – over the next 20 years for the project.