US energy utility Dominion Energy has filed an alternate plan with South Carolina regulator PSC (Public Service Commission) to acquire SCANA Corporation, saying that it would lower customer bills and provide a total of US$1.91bn in refunds over a 20-year period compared with the previously proposed US$1.3bn in upfront cash refunds that would have reached about US$1,000 per customer.
South Carolina power utility Santee Cooper has asked the South Carolina PSC to require that Dominion and SCANA set aside US$351m, to refund or lower power bills for its 2 million customers. Santee Cooper owns a minority stake in the VC Summer cancelled nuclear project, in partnership with SCANA's affiliate South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G), and has been supporting the costs of preserving the construction site and maintaining the equipment alone. The company thus wants Dominion to refund 2/3 of the US$540m paid by its customers for the failed nuclear project.
The merger between Dominion Energy and SCANA has already been approved by SCANA Corporation's shareholders, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Georgia Public Service Commission. The transaction is scheduled for completion by the end of 2018 and will create a combined company active in 18 states from Connecticut to California. It will have an installed power capacity of 31,400 MW and will operate 93,600 miles (150 600 km) of power transmission and distribution lines along with 106,400 miles (171,200 km) of gas pipelines and 1 Tcf (28 bcm) of gas storage capacity. Besides, the new company will also deliver energy to approximately 6.5 million regulated customer accounts in eight US states.
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