Amend House Bill 3309

Update – March 6, 2025 

House Bill 3309 was passed by the House in February, and it is now under consideration in the Senate Judiciary Committee. As it was initially prefiled, House Bill 3309 was nearly identical to House Bill 5118, which we strongly opposed last year. 

The current version of the bill includes some constructive amendments, including maintaining the size of the Public Service Commission. However, the Conservation League continues to be concerned that the bill would increase ratepayers’ risk of paying higher-than-necessary electric bills and delay the growth in clean energy resources that is needed to support economic development.  

In addition to increasing South Carolina’s unsustainable reliance on fossil fuels over clean energy alternatives while putting South Carolina ratepayers, the environment, and clean energy future at risk,  H.3309 would also greenlight a joint venture between Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy to build a large gas-fired plant on the Edisto River in rural Colleton County near Canadys. The project would also require a new pipeline to be constructed through the ACE Basin, one of the largest areas of undeveloped wetlands/uplands ecosystems remaining on the Atlantic Coast. 

Put simply, this bill is bad for ratepayers. It’s bad for our land, waterways, and vulnerable communities. And it’s bad for our transition to cleaner energy sources. 

The General Assembly has an opportunity to pass a balanced omnibus energy bill that provides for a reliable, affordable, “all-of-the-above” supply of electricity that can match the pace of growing demand from large customers, like data centers. In doing so, it is important to protect everyday customers from subsidizing the energy needs of wealthy corporations.  

With the addition of some reasonable provisions to protect ratepayers and unlock the cost-saving potential of clean energy, H.3309 could help unleash our state’s full potential to secure a prosperous energy future for years to come.

Tell your Senator that you support amending the bill to protect ratepayers and advance clean energy. 

In March, our Energy & Climate Program Director Taylor Allred testified on the bill before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee regarding recommended reforms to energy resource planning, rate design, energy efficiency programs, and business access to clean energy. We will continue advocating for these and other reforms that could help our state unlock its clean energy potential and protect ratepayers from costly overreliance on fossil fuels. 

House Bill 5118 in the 2024 Legislative Session 

In 2024, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed House Bill 5118, a controversial omnibus energy bill that would have transformed our state’s energy policy. This bill aimed to reduce oversight of utility companies, potentially undermining efforts to ensure fair rates for consumers, and would have permitted Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper to construct a new gas plant as a joint venture in Canadys, South Carolina. Fortunately, it did not pass in the Senate, but a variation of the bill returned as H.3309 in 2025. 

We expressed concerns about many of the provisions in House Bill 5118. Among other things, it could fast-track the development of an expensive new gas plant and pipeline in the ACE Basin, which is one of the largest undeveloped wetland ecosystems on the East Coast. 

Shortly before the end of the legislative session in May 2024, a significantly scaled-back version was passed by the Senate and the bill was referred to a conference committee of senators and representatives that could meet to consider potential compromises in the coming months.