Proposed buyer for SC-owned Santee Cooper would cut 700 jobs, acquire debt
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina lawmakers now have three options for deciding the fate of Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility that racked up $4 billion in debt associated with a failed nuclear construction project in Fairfield County.
The most far-reaching of the three proposals unveiled Tuesday would sell Santee Cooper to NextEra, a Florida-based electric utility giant, for a complex multi-billion dollar package of cash, acquisition of present and future debt and a pledge for a four-year freeze in electric rates to Santee Coopers 2 million ratepayers. Santee Cooper generates about $1.9 billion in revenue each year.
NextEras proposal would also result in reducing Santee Coopers current workforce of 1,675 employees to 970 by 2025 a laying off of 705 employees.
The second proposal was from Dominion Energy, another energy giant, which proposes to keep Santee Cooper largely intact but managed by Dominion.
Read more: https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article239948898.html