nuke fiasco aftermath

Those suing SC Electric & Gas have won a victory in the state Court of Appeals .

The court turned down SCE&G’s attempt to get four lawsuits thrown out.

SCE&G argued that the lawsuits shouldn’t be allowed to decide how much its ratepayers have to pay for its failed nuclear project.

The company is charging 700,000 of them $37 million a month for the project it abandoned a year ago.

Ratepayers sued to lower rates and give them refunds of up to $2 billion. The lawsuits argue they shouldn’t have to pay for a project that won’t produce power as SCE&G promised.

The Court of Appeals agreed with the ratepayers and a trial court’s decision not to dismiss the suits.

The trial court rejected SCE&G’s contention that the work of setting utility rates belongs only to the state Public Service Commission.

The court found the case poses questions larger than rates alone, such as the constitutionality of the state law that helped SCE&G finance the failed project with ratepayers’ money.

“This action does not challenge the ratemaking process,” Judge John C. Hayes III wrote in his initial order. “Rather, it alleges that consumers were charged rates for a benefit that SCE&G failed to deliver.”

SCE&G said it thinks the PSC, which approved all its rate requests with few questions, is the “best forum for the issues related to rates and customer refunds.”

SCE&G accused attorneys filing the lawsuits of doing it to win significant fees.