Your electric bills could go way up next year under Santee Cooper’s proposed rate hike. We encourage you to speak out at the upcoming public hearings listed below.
Santee Cooper has stated that residential customers will experience an 8.7% rate increase, but in its analysis, the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff determined that some customers could see a whopping 36% increase in their average bills throughout the year! In some months, particularly in the winter, it could be even higher. That’s because Santee Cooper is proposing a radical restructuring of the way your bill will be calculated, which many customers will find difficult to understand and rearrange their lifestyles to fit.
The utility wants to impose a mandatory demand charge, which would make up a large portion of your bill and be based on your highest hour of usage each month during peak demand hours. That means that even if you did a great job conserving energy all month, your bill could go through the roof because of one hour of relatively high usage. For example, if you have family over for the Fourth of July after a visit to the beach, take showers, throw some wet towels in the washer and dryer, let the air conditioning run, cook dinner, and do the dishes, that day alone could stick you with a $170 demand charge on top of your also higher $20 fixed customer charge and all your $/kWh energy charges for the month.
This rate hike is the first following a rate freeze that was negotiated in a 2020 settlement related to the failed V.C. Summer nuclear expansion, but it won’t be the last. After this proposed base rate increase, Santee Cooper is also planning to update its fuel cost rate adjustment, which could increase bills by an additional 7%. In addition, it will implement another increase to recover certain deferred costs specified in the aforementioned settlement. And it doesn’t end there! With a massive 10-year capital investment plan underway and billions of dollars in additional investments identified in its integrated resource plan, these increases are only the tip of the iceberg.
SUBMIT COMMENTS TODAY!
We encourage you to speak out in person or virtually during one of the meetings listed below. You can also submit written comments, which are due TOMORROW, Friday, September 13.
Opportunities for Customer Comments:
Sept. 17 | 1:00 PM
Waccamaw Neck Library
41 St. Paul’s Pl., Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Sept. 17 | 6:00 PM
Santee Cooper Auditorium HG
305A Gardner Lacy Rd., Myrtle Beach, SC
29579
Sept. 24 | 9:00 AM
VIRTUAL
Register here.
Registration for the virtual meeting is required. If you plan to speak at the virtual meeting, you must register for the meeting and also register to speak. Santee Cooper uses Webex for virtual public meetings and closed captioning is available. Click here for more information on the Webex platform and how to turn on closed captions.
Oct. 8* | 2:00 PM
Santee Cooper Auditorium
305A Gardner Lacy Rd.
Myrtle Beach, SC 29579
*This will be a meeting of the full Santee Cooper Board and is the final opportunity for oral comments. Customers and other interested parties can make comments in person during this meeting. You can view the meeting online here.
Make Up Public Comment Meeting Dates (if needed)
Sept. 23 | 6:00
Santee Cooper Auditorium
1 Riverwood Dr.
Moncks Corner, SC 29461
Sept. 30 | 6:00 PM
Santee Cooper Auditorium
305A Gardner Lacy Rd.
Myrtle Beach, SC 29579
Customers are invited to speak at public comment meetings. You may sign up in advance by clicking here. If you plan to speak, please bring a photo ID with you to the meeting.