Santee Cooper Observes 75th Anniversary of Improving the Lives of South Carolinians

MONCKS CORNER, SC – April 7, 2009 – Seventy-five years ago today, South Carolina Gov. Ibra Blackwood affixed his signature to a bill passed by the Legislature that established the South Carolina Public Service Authority, known today as Santee Cooper, to bring electricity to rural South Carolina, simultaneously providing jobs and economic opportunity in areas that desperately needed that hope.

Then, as now, Santee Cooper’s mission is to be the state’s leading resource for improving the lives of all South Carolinians. As the state’s largest power producer and the nation’s largest public power producer according to the American Public Power Association, Santee Cooper generates electricity for more than 2 million people, serving customers directly in Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry counties and indirectly to the rest of the state through its 20 electric cooperatives.

Santee Cooper’s primary responsibility is to provide affordable, reliable power that is protective of the environment. The utility employs traditional generation, nuclear power and renewable energy sources and in 2007 set an aggressive goal of generating 40 percent of its energy in 2020 from non-greenhouse gas emitting resources, biomass fuels, conservation and energy efficiency. Santee Cooper was the first utility in South Carolina to generate renewable Green Power from landfill biogas generation, and it most recently launched an offshore wind study with Coastal Carolina University in hopes of developing that potential renewable energy source.

That emphasis on reliable, affordable electricity has also worked as a powerful economic development tool through the years, helping to attract vital employers such as Nucor Steel Berkeley and Alcoa-Mt. Holly in Berkeley County. In 1988, Santee Cooper joined with The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina to form the South Carolina Power Team, an economic development organization that to date has worked on 580 industrial relocation or expansion projects, resulting in $8.1 billion in capital investments, 43,500 new jobs, and $1.3 billion in annual payrolls across the state.

Finally, Santee Cooper is steward of lakes Marion and Moultrie, the state’s largest freshwater resource and the energy behind Jefferies Hydroelectric Station – Santee Cooper’s original generating facility. Santee Cooper monitors the water quality of the lakes and manages them for navigational and recreational purposes, including maintaining public boat ramps and recreational spots around the lakes, building and maintaining part of the state’s Palmetto Trail, and partnering with state and federal agencies in wildlife management projects. Additionally, Santee Cooper operates two regional water systems, the 36-million gallons per day Santee Cooper Regional Water System and the still-expanding 8-mgd Lake Marion Regional Water System, which offers the opportunity for safe drinking water to communities along the I-95 corridor not served by public water, and also serves as a new economic development tool for those same communities.

“Santee Cooper has remained true and steadfast to the mandate set forth in the 1934 law that created us 75 years ago today, that Santee Cooper exists ‘for the benefit of all the people of the state, for the improvement of their health and welfare and material prosperity,’ ” said President and Chief Executive Officer Lonnie Carter. “We do that through low-cost, reliable and environmentally protective power, excellent customer service, economic development leadership and the highest ethical standards.

“We are not finished. Our challenges are as great, if not greater, today than they were 75 years ago,” Carter continued. “I humbly thank all the employees and retirees who have provided our strong foundation. We have a solid vision, we are focused on meeting our state’s energy needs, and we are poised to serve this great state for the next 75 years.”

For more about Santee Cooper’s history, visit www.santeecooper.com.

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 information on how Santee Cooper lives green and how you can go green, visit www.SanteeCooperGreen.com.