Here’s some welcome news for ratepayers.

Dominion Energy will have to pay a $137.5 million fraud settlement but cannot charge it to its ratepayers.

Office of Regulatory Staff Director Nanette Edwards told the Chronicle Dominion will have to pay for the crimes of SCANA executives it bought the company from.

US Attorney Peter McCoy announced last week that SCANA Corp. and its subsidiary SCE&G have agreed to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit.

SCANA and 2 of their executives are charged with defrauding investors with false and misleading statements about the $10 billion project that was abandoned.

As the new owner of SCANA, Dominion appears stuck with the settlement.

The challenge for ORS is determining the lawyer fees Dominion paid to handle the lawsuit. ORS will recommend to the Public Service Commission that those fees shouldn’t be passed on to the ratepayer either.

Unfortunately, unallowable lawyer fees are difficult to separate from allowable lawyer fees. It depends on how they show up in the financial documentation provided by the company.

The settlement requires Dominion to pay a $25 million penalty and $112.5 million in “disgorgement” plus prejudgment interest.

Disgorgement may mean those who committed the fraud may have to give up millions in bonuses.

How much of that will go to the defrauded investors was not made clear.

Many are retired or current SCANA employee, now working for the new owners, Dominion Energy.

The SEC’s complaint charged SCANA, SCE&G, former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh and former executive vice president Stephen Byrne with violating federal anti-fraud laws

The SEC complaint alleged that SCANA, SCE&G, and the 2 former executives lied to their investors.

They claimed the nuclear project would qualify SCANA for more than $1 billion in tax credits.

The SEC claimed the 2 men knew the project was far behind schedule and unlikely to win the tax credits.

Marsh and Byrne have pleaded guilty to federal charges and face millions in fines and time in prison.