The proposed SCANA settlement comes up way short, one critic says.

SCANA agreed not to charge ratepayers for the $115 million golden parachutes for executives, SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce CEO Frank Knapp said.

“That will make the customers happy but not as happy as if the executives would get no payouts,” Knapp said.

“SCE&G agrees to sell some non-essential property with a value around $70 million and give that back to ratepayers. But that was property SCE&G was probably going to have to sell anyway.

“Past SCE&G customers who would not have recovered any of the money they paid since 2009 would be in line for a check of some amount from the utility. But that would come out of the pockets of current ratepayers who aren’t going to be very happy paying higher bills.

“The proposed class action settlement gets SCE&G to commit to giving about $185 million back to customers. But this deal is dependent on the Public Service Commission accepting Dominion Energy’s last proposal. That would not be in the best interest of ratepayers,” he said.

Knapp has been a vocal critic of SCANA and its SC Electric & Gas subsidiary. He is an intervenor in the PSC hearings and a founder of the Stop the Blank Check Coalition which led opposition the controversial state Base Load Review Act.

Knapp said attorney fees might take 1/3 of the settlement cash.

“My wish was that the suit would claw back over $2 billion ratepayers paid for the nuclear project that won’t produce 1 watt of electricity. What a disappointment.”

- Jerry Bellune