vc summer project

Take This Quiz: Will The Santee Cooper Debt Affect You And Your Family?

In 2013, Santee Cooper and SCE&G began construction on their V.C. Summer Nuclear Project hoping to bring new energy sources to their customers. Four years later, Santee Cooper and it’s direct-serve and co-op customers remain billions in debt and growing a million each day, while SCE&G customers were sold to Dominion and have been elevated from some but not all of their debt burden.

Santee Cooper alone has $8 billion in debt, half of which comes from the failed nuclear project. If all things remain unchanged, the state-owned utility has no other option but to raise rates on all direct serve and co-op customers in order to pay off the debt. That is, unless, state lawmakers make the decision to sell to a private utility who can absorb the debt.

How will the failure of V.C. Summer impact your family’s bottom line?

Take this quick quiz to find out!

Palmetto Promise Institute, an organization that researches, studies, and promotes public policy which supports a free and flourishing South Carolina, has a quiz that will test your knowledge on the Santee Cooper fiasco and let you know if you’ll be affected by the debt.

Take the quiz here.

Featured

South Carolina Lawmakers Issues Santee Cooper and Education

S.C. Senate Creates Another New Committee To Review All Santee Cooper Options

Featured Image Source: Andrew Whitaker, Post & Courier

Last week the South Carolina Senate created a new committee to help decide the future of Santee Cooper.

This decision comes just one week after S.C. Senate President Harvey Peeler decided not to move forward with ICF Consulting, the consulting firm vetting and researching the offers received for the state-owned utility.

The State reported that the new Senate “Select Committee” will work separately from the legislative committee studying ICF’s recommendations and will focus on reviewing all options for the utility. Other options include an outside firm coming in to manage the utility, long-term power agreements, or structural reforms.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey and Senate Minority Leader Nikki Setzler will co-chair the new committee. Both senators previously led the committee that investigated the failed nuclear reactors that helped create the massive $8 billion debt.

According to The State, Santee Cooper’s direct-serve customers will possibly have to pay around $6,200 more per household in higher rates over the next four decades and their co-op customers will have to pay $4,200 more per household to pay off the debt created by the failed Santee Cooper V.C. summer project.

Poll Shows That Informed Voters Want Santee Cooper Sold

Last week the South Carolina Senate decided to not move forward with the consultant responsible for the vetting and research for the possible sale of Santee Cooper, a move that could leave the 2 million direct-serve and co-op customers of Santee Cooper responsible for the $8 billion debt they owe.

Despite this decision, S.C. Club For Growth, a group of South Carolinians whose mission is to promote economic growth in the state, recently released a poll that showed overwhelming support for the sale of Santee Cooper among informed voters.

Nearly three-quarters of the state was more likely to support the Santee Cooper sale if a private company agreed to pay down the $8 billion debt and prevent customers from carrying the weight of paying down the debt.

However, the poll also found that a large amount of the state is still unaware of the V.C. Summer Project that caused a majority of the debt owed by Santee Cooper.

The poll showed that only 48.3% of the state is even aware of the debacle. And, when you look at just Santee Cooper and co-op customers, that number is even lower.

With news of the South Carolina Senate not wanting to move forward with ICF Consulting, the future of Santee Cooper continues to be unclear. And, as more South Carolinians become aware of the billion dollar problem and the effect it may have on them, frustrations will continue to grow and support for the sale will increase.