CAYCE, S.C., July 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- South Carolina
Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G), a subsidiary of SCANA
Corporation (SCANA) (NYSE:SCG), today filed a lawsuit challenging
the constitutionality of a South
Carolina law significantly reducing company revenues from
electric rates authorized by state law and previous orders of the
Public Service Commission of South
Carolina (SCPSC). In the lawsuit, SCE&G seeks a
declaration that the law is unconstitutional and asks the court to
issue an injunction prohibiting the SCPSC from implementing the new
law. The lawsuit was filed in the United
States District Court for the District of South Carolina, Columbia Division.
![SCANA Corporation logo. (PRNewsFoto/SCANA Corporation) SCANA Corporation logo. (PRNewsFoto/SCANA Corporation)](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/151251/scana_corporation_logo.jpg)
In addition to the reduction of SCE&G's electric rates
previously approved by the SCPSC from approximately 18 percent of
an average residential customer's bill to approximately 3.2
percent, the new law supplies definitions of key terms that would
heighten the evidence required to establish SCE&G's ability to
recover its costs associated with the new nuclear project. In
its lawsuit, SCE&G asserts the rate reduction and other aspects
of the new law constitute an unlawful taking of private property,
deny it due process of law, and constitute an unlawful bill of
attainder, all in violation of various provisions of the United
States Constitution.
The new nuclear project ended after the project's contractor,
Westinghouse Electric Company (Westinghouse), filed for bankruptcy
in March 2017 and stated that it
would take advantage of the bankruptcy process to reject the
fixed-price contract for the project; the cost to complete the
project was determined to materially exceed prior Westinghouse
estimates; and the Board of Directors of the project's co-owner,
the South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper),
decided in July 2017 to halt funding
Santee Cooper's share of remaining construction costs.
SCE&G and Dominion Energy, Inc. have petitioned the SCPSC
for approvals related to the proposed business combination of SCANA
and Dominion Energy that would provide significant benefits to
SCE&G's electric customers to offset previous and future costs
related to the new nuclear project. This proposal includes the
purchase of a power plant by SCE&G at no cost to its customers
that would partly offset the loss of generating capacity projected
from the new nuclear units. SCE&G acquired a natural gas-fired
power plant in May 2018 that replaces
more than 40 percent of the projected generating capacity from the
SCE&G portion of the new nuclear project.
PROFILE
SCANA, headquartered in Cayce,
SC, is an energy-based holding company principally engaged,
through subsidiaries, in electric and natural gas utility
operations and other energy-related businesses. Information about
SCANA and its businesses is available on the company's website at
www.scana.com.
SCE&G is a regulated public utility engaged in the
generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity to
approximately 723,000 customers in the central, southern and
southwestern portions of South
Carolina. The company also provides natural gas service to
approximately 371,000 customers throughout the state. More
information about SCE&G is available at www.sceg.com.
SCANA Corporation
Contacts:
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Media
Contact:
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Investor
Contact:
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Rhonda
O'Banion
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Bryant
Potter
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(800)
562-9308
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(803)
217-6916
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SOURCE SCANA Corporation