The 2025 legislative session is now underway, and a few bills have emerged as focal points: House Bill 3309, Senate Bill 12, and House Bill 3928.
H3309 seeks to rollback important regulatory oversight of electric utilities and authorize a joint venture between Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy for the construction of a major new gas plant, among other provisions. S12 specifically addresses Santee Cooper’s participation in this joint venture. Instead of periodic reviews by regulators, H3928 would implement an annual electric rate adjustment based on a formula. Additionally, it would allow utilities to borrow on power plant costs before construction is completed. We oppose these bills and are committed to ensuring responsible energy policies for our state.
As we oppose these bills, the Conservation League has identified priorities and organized four guiding themes to shape our energy legislative future.
#1) Electric utilities should modernize and synchronize their approach to predicting future electricity demand.
Every three years, electric utilities create Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs). These plans outline how they expect demand to grow and how their energy resources, such as power plants, will meet that demand. Utilities update IRPs annually and rely heavily on electric load forecasting, which is the process of predicting future demand for electricity.
Accurate forecasts are critical for determining infrastructure needs in response to demand, however South Carolina law has very little guidance on how our electric utilities should conduct load forecasting. To reduce inconsistencies among utility approaches to forecasting, state legislation should incorporate best practices to meet current demand trends and real-world conditions:
- Foster open dialogue among utilities, regulators, researchers, and the public.
- Establish clear data quality, data sharing, data retention, and data security protocols.
- Ensure rigorous scenario analyses to account for uncertainties, such as policy implementation, economic fluctuations, population growth, technological advancements, and non-energy constraints.
- Require detailed forecasts and long-term service commitments from new large industrial customers.
#2) Future electricity demand should be met without overbuilding new natural gas infrastructure.
South Carolina faces a growing demand for energy, largely driven by the rise of industrial data centers. To address this demand, Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper have proposed jointly financing and owning a 2,000 megawatt gas-fired power plant at the site of the former Canadys coal plant. The original coal plant’s capacity was 490 megawatts, so this natural gas project would need costly transmission pipeline upgrades, causing concerns for the surrounding landscape and communities’ health. The plant is located along the Edisto River, so new gas pipeline could run through critical wetland habitats in the ACE Basin. Air pollutants produced during the power generation process also contribute to smog and respiratory problems.
The South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC) is responsible for reviewing power plant proposals under the Siting Act, which was established to regulate the construction, operation, and location of energy facilities primarily to minimize environmental impact and ensure public safety.
But before the Canadys proposal reaches the PSC, a crucial question lies within the state legislature’s purview: Is it a responsible use of public funds for Santee Cooper, a state-owned entity, to share the financial and ownership risks of a power plant with a private, investor-owned utility? The proposed partnership would expose Santee Cooper, and therefore the public, to undue environmental, public health, and financial risks.
#3) Ratepayers should not subsidize the costs associated with serving large energy users.
The rise of data centers represents a relatively recent development, posing new challenges for electric utilities as they adapt to serving these large-scale customers. Since their earliest form during the Second World War, data centers have evolved dramatically in size and function. Over time, data centers became facilities with multiple server rooms, ensuring reliable network connectivity, computing power, and security for customers. Today, data centers operate at an industrial level. They store, manage, and process large amounts of data for cloud services, such as Google Drive, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure, as well as artificial intelligence.
Data centers are expected to consume up to 12 percent of electricity nationwide by 2028—nearly an 8 percent increase within five years. Meeting this demand may require substantial investments in power generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure. An electric utility could construct an entire power plant to serve new data centers. If electric utilities maintain their current rate practices, the costs of constructing and operating new power plants would be distributed to residential and commercial customers as well. This should raise questions around fairness.
Conversely, if utilities invest in anticipation of data center growth that does not materialize, or if data centers close prematurely, then utilities face the risk of stranded assets, which would….. Some utilities and regulators are exploring innovative solutions to balance the needs of data centers with the interests of existing customers, trialing approaches including data center tariffs and minimum payment requirements to ensure customer cost protections.
#4) We can reduce energy demand through energy efficiency programs and meet growing needs with renewable energy.
South Carolina’s energy needs demand a forward-thinking approach to ensure our state has reliable, affordable power that does not unduly threaten public health or the environment. Households can reduce their energy consumption through energy efficiency upgrades.
Cleaner energy sources save money and provide new job opportunities. Utility-scale solar has vast potential as a cornerstone of a diversified energy portfolio. South Carolina ranks 19th for total installed states solar capacity while neighboring states North Carolina and Georgia rank fourth and seventh, respectively.
South Carolina has already begun to reap the economic benefits of the clean energy transition, creating thousands of jobs in our state. In 2023, we saw a 3.4 percent increase in clean energy jobs, and our state is a national leader in the growth of energy-efficient lighting and HVAC jobs. However, our clean energy job growth could be much higher, with just a single South Carolina county in the top 100 U.S. counties for clean energy jobs. Greenville County barely makes the list, emphasizing the Texas and Florida are leaders in overall energy efficiency, renewable energy (especially solar), and biofuels employment. Among the top 100 U.S. counties for clean energy jobs, only one South Carolina county—Greenville—makes the list, and it occupies the very bottom rung. This reality underscores the urgent need for greater investment and a more proactive approach to clean energy development in our state. , with just a single South Carolina county in the top 100 U.S. counties for clean energy jobs. Greenville County barely makes the list, emphasizing the urgent need for greater investment and a more proactive approach to clean energy development in our state.