SC lawmakers have again delayed filling a $107,822 seat on the state Public Service Commission.

They are appointed officials who approve SC Electric & Gas and Carolina Water Service rate hikes.

A screening hearing for PSC Seat 2, which was supposed to have been held last week, was postponed, according to the legislatively controlled State Regulation of Public Utilities Review Committee. The PURC nominates PSC candidates for election in the Legislature and largely controls the regulation of SC utilities.

The election for the 4-year term has dragged on for more than a year.

State law makes it difficult for the public to participate in PSC candidate screening hearings – and other types of proceedings controlled by the Legislature, a review by The Nerve newsletter found.

Citizens who appear before legislative committees can face felony charges of “contempt of the General Assembly” if lawmakers believe their testimony was “willfully” false or even “materially incomplete.”

The 7 PSC members are under public scrutiny due to the SCE&G nuclear fiasco.

The PURC statement did not say when the hearing for the congressional Seat 2, which covers all of Lexington, Aiken and Barnwell counties and parts of Richland and Orangeburg counties, would be rescheduled, or when an election in the Legislature would be held.

Heather Anderson, a PURC lawyer, said that none of the 6 announced candidates, including incumbent Elliott Elam Jr. of Lexington, has withdrawn.

John McAllister, one of three nominated candidates, told The Nerve he believed lawmakers who supported Elam pushed to strike the entire slate because they feared “there was a danger Elam wouldn’t be elected.”

Elam, a former consumer advocate at the S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs, declined comment.