nuclear fiscaco afyertrmath

Afew months ago, state lawmakers made a good business decision to solicit bids to buy or manage Santee Cooper.

This might help lawmakers see how to avoid future rate hikes to pay off a $9 billion nuclear debt or even eliminate it under new ownership or management.

Lawmakers also gave Santee Cooper executives a chance to say how they would reform their utility to improve its operations to avoid being sold or managed.

Direct customers’ rates increased 5% to start paying the nuclear debt and an additional 7% is to start in 2021.

Mid-Carolina Electric in Lexington County and 19 other cooperatives that buy power from the utility will also pay more due to the nuclear debt if a solution isn’t found.

While the Legislature has given San-tee Cooper the opportunity to remake itself, the utility’s recent actions only reinforce the need for third-party intervention.

In June, Santee Cooper was informed by the state Senate that the law required it to pay 415 million of the cost of the expert help in soliciting and reviewing proposals to buy or manage the utility. Santee Cooper initially defied the legislative instruction, enabling it to delay the time-sensitive process by 3 weeks before relenting.

Then in July, the utility’s board voted to hire 2 new executives for the next 18 months at a cost of at least $2.5 million.

The board wants these retired Arizona executives to turn around their poorly managed utility and restore relations with lawmakers and the state’s electric cooperatives.

Right out of the box the new CEO criticized lawmakers for thinking of selling San-tee Cooper, calling it an “uninformed solution.” The “rogue agency” apparently is not changing its stripes.

Given Santee Cooper’s willingness to ignore the legislature, the board may defy the law’s clear instruction to provide access to information other utilities need to make proposals to buy or manage the utility.

If all goes well we can start on such important questions about the future as:

• Should all coal plants be closed now or are they essential for energy production?

• Are more natural gas plants needed? If so, do we need more gas pipelines?

• Should our utilities buy more solar energy from others or build it themselves?

• Should we pursue battery storage makers as part of our economic development?

• Should the state require our utilities to buy electricity on the open market if it is less expensive than what they produce?

• Should the state move to total utility deregulation, allowing consumers to buy energy from competing companies?

• Does the state need to improve its electrical grid to enable more out-of-state electricity to be available to consumers?

If the state can resolve the Santee Cooper crisis, we will have the opportunity to answer these important questions.