Utilities offer centralized energy, meaning they have centralized locations where they produce energy and distribute it through an energy grid. Decentralizing energy puts energy production in the hands of the people. People can produce their own energy from sources like solar and do not have as great a need for a large, centralized utility. This can cause tension between people who want more freedom over their energy and a utility that exists to produce energy on a large scale for many dependent customers.
The federal government put the Public Utilities Holding Companies Act (PUHCA) in place to protect customers. One of the things it protected customers from was utilities making risky investments that would burden the ratepayer. PUHCA was overturned in 2005 and took effect in 2006. In 2007, the Base Load Review Act was enacted that “g[ave] the state’s public service commission the power to determine reasonable costs of a project and to change electricity rates on an annual basis during the construction of nuclear plants.” One year later, in 2008, “South Carolina Electric & Gas Company filed applications for two nuclear units it plans to build at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station at Jenkinsville, S.C,” with approval from the commission to raise customer rates to pay for construction.
Santee Cooper’s investment in nuclear was deemed an unwise investment by Wall Street who refused to finance it. The public utility decided to bypass the Wall Street investment advice with the Base Load Review Act that would add a percentage on to the ratepayers bills to prepay for the construction. Customers are paying extra on top of their utility bill to build these reactors and won’t even own any of it. Once they are built, 65 percent will be owned by SCE&G and 45 percent will be owned by Santee Cooper. The customers will not receive any compensation for paying for the plants. Ratepayers will remain just that, ratepayers who will continue to pay the full rate for the electricity that comes out of the power plants they fully financed and built, while shareholders will collect the profit.This move to invest in nuclear was a move to solidify baseload energy sources which solidify utility dependence and consolidate centralized energy sources. This program which occurs in tandem with the dismantling of residential solar, which offers some hope for a decentralization option, has set the tone for South Carolina’s energy priorities — overwhelmingly centralized and utility dependent.
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