Santee Cooper Board to Consider 4.4 Percent Rrate Increase and Rate Restructuring Plan for 2009, 5.5 Percent Increase in 2010
April 28, 2009
MONCKS CORNER, SC – April 27, 2009 – The Santee Cooper Board of Directors voted today to consider a new two-year rate increase that would raise overall customer bills an average 4.4 percent beginning in November and an additional 5.5 percent in November 2010. If approved, the rates would mark the state-owned utility’s first base rate increase since 1996.
Additionally the Board will consider a new rate structure that consolidates similar rate categories and implements a seasonal rate that is lower in non-summer months and higher in the summer, when it costs more to generate power.
“Since our last rate increase in 1996, Santee Cooper has nearly doubled our generating capacity and invested more than $3 billion in new generation, transmission and distribution, all to serve a customer base that has grown by nearly 60 percent,” said Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper president and chief executive officer. “We know that this is an especially difficult economic time for many people. Unfortunately, the cost to produce power has significantly increased, as has the cost of building new generation and equipping it with the best available environmental control technology. We must operate and maintain our existing generation and prepare for when the economy rebounds and growth intensifies.”
Specifically, Santee Cooper has proposed an average annual increase for residential customers of 7.5 percent beginning in November and 7.6 percent in November 2010. That would mean average bill increases of $6.47 a month beginning this November, and an additional $8 a month on average beginning November 2010, for a residential customer consuming 1,000 kilowatt hours a month.
Commercial customers would see average annual increases of 5.6 percent beginning in November 2009 and 5.3 percent in November 2010, and industrial customers would face average annual increases of 2.9 percent in 2009 and 4.6 percent in 2010.
Bill impacts for individual customers in all classes will vary depending on each customer’s applicable rate schedule and specific usage.
Lighting customers, which include municipal street lighting customers and traffic light operators, would see increases of 2.2 percent in 2009 and 11.1 percent in 2010, and municipal customers – the city of Georgetown and town of Bamberg – would see average rate increases of 4 percent in 2009 and 6.3 percent in 2010.
Santee Cooper has proposed a rate restructuring plan for residential customers that would:
• Reduce the number of residential tariff offerings through consolidation of similar rate classes
• Implement seasonal energy rates by establishing higher energy prices for monthly bills from June through September and lower energy prices for monthly bills from October through May: Summer energy rates would be one cent per kWh higher than non-Summer rates for the Summer of 2010, and two cents higher for the Summer of 2011
• Revise the level of fuel cost captured in base rates
• Close the Good Cents tariff to new participants
• Increase the monthly Customer Charge to reflect cost increases in the equipment and facilities required to connect and service customers
Santee Cooper has proposed a rate restructuring plan for commercial customers that would:
• Implement seasonal energy rates for most classes
• Implement time-of-use energy charges for the current large general service customers
• Revise the level of fuel cost captured in base rates
• Consolidate similar rates
• Increase customer charges to reflect cost increases in connecting and servicing customers
“In restructuring our rates, Santee Cooper wanted to better reflect the seasonal differences we face in the cost of generating power,” Carter said. “At the same time, it is another opportunity for us to work with customers and help them use our programs and resources to conserve energy in their homes and businesses.”
Today’s board vote sets in place a period of public comment, which runs through July 5. Customers are invited to comment on the new rates and rate structure and can submit their comments by mail or via the utility’s Web site, www.santeecooper.com/rates. Additionally, Santee Cooper will collect oral comments at a series of public meetings beginning May 26 and running through June 4, and again during a full Santee Cooper Board of Directors meeting July 27. The schedule of meetings is also on the Web site.
The board will consider all public comments and then vote on the proposed rate adjustments at its August meeting. If approved, the first rate adjustments would take effect Nov. 1.
Over 18 months ago, Santee Cooper’s board adopted a very aggressive goal to generate 40 percent of its energy by 2020 from non-greenhouse gas emitting resources, biomass fuels, conservation and energy efficiency. At its February meeting, the board approved a series of energy efficiency programs that will help customers better manage their electric bills by consuming less electricity each month and help the utility meet the energy efficiency portion of that goal. These programs, which range from incentives to weatherize new and existing homes to a rebate for replacing old refrigerators with new, high-efficiency models, will be launched beginning later this year, before the proposed new rates would take effect.
“Santee Cooper recognizes that affordable, reliable electricity is crucial to our quality of life, our employment base and our state’s prosperity,” Carter said. “As a public power company, our primary responsibility is to our customers. Throughout our 75-year history, we have consistently delivered electricity that is there when they need it at the best price we can offer. We will continue to do so for the next 75 years.”
Santee Cooper
Santee Cooper is South Carolina’s state-owned electric and water utility, and the state’s largest power producer, supplying electricity to more than 163,000 retail customers in Berkeley, Georgetown, and Horry counties, as well as to 29 large industrial facilities, the cities of Bamberg and Georgetown, and the Charleston Air Force Base. Santee Cooper also generates the power distributed by the state’s 20 electric cooperatives to more than 700,000 customers in all 46 counties. Approximately 2 million South Carolinians receive their power directly or indirectly from Santee Cooper. The utility also provides water to 137,000 consumers in Berkeley and Dorchester counties, and the town of Santee. For more information, visit www.santeecooper.com. For information on how Santee Cooper lives green and how you can go green, visit www.SanteeCooperGreen.com.
