It has been a rough year for thousands of Lexington County electric ratepayers. In terms of higher costs of electricity, SC Electric & Gas ratepayers suffered the most from 9 rate increases. This raised rates about 18% although critics say rates rose more than 30%. Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative members received some higher costs but their power supplier, Santee Cooper, raised rates significantly less in the failure of a $9 billion nuclear project. State lawmakers made one major change, freeing the Office of Regulatory Staff to a single mission – to protect the ratepayers. But the state Public Service Commission:

• Ignored an opportunity to allow bank-