Santee Cooper, PMPA announce long-term power agreement

MONCKSCORNER, SC – December 14, 2010 –  Santee Cooper and Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (PMPA) announcedtoday the approval of a long-term power agreement in which Santee Cooper willsell approximately 200 megawatts of power to PMPA beginning in 2014 and more asPMPA’s customer demand grows.

The boardsof Santee Cooper and PMPA approved the agreement today in separate boardmeetings. The contract begins Jan. 1, 2014.

SanteeCooper is South Carolina’s largest producer of electricity and transmits poweracross the state to its own retail customers and to distribution throughwholesale and municipal customers. PMPA provides electricity to 10 municipalutilities in South Carolina, serving the cities of Abbeville, Clinton, Easley,Gaffney, Greer, Laurens, Newberry, Rock Hill, Union and Westminster.

Thecontract provides that PMPA will purchase power to meet all of its load beyondthe amount already served by: PMPA’s partial ownership of the Catawba NuclearStation; its participants’ share of electricity from the Southeastern PowerAdministration hydroelectric facilities; and load met by individual generatingresources owned by PMPA participants.

Thecontract will use existing transmission systems. Santee Cooper maintainstransmission that is interconnected with Duke Energy Carolinas, and PMPAparticipants are served by the Duke transmission system.

“SanteeCooper is pleased to announce this contract with PMPA, and to begin serving itscity members,” said Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper president and CEO. “This PMPAcontract helps

SanteeCooper operate more efficiently by more fully utilizing our generatingresources, and it lets us broaden our customer base at the same time.”

“PMPA looks forward to purchasing oursupplemental power and energy needs from Santee Cooper,” said Coleman Smoak,PMPA’s General Manager.  “We believe that working with Santee Cooper willbe a great asset as we look to the future needs of our member-cities.”

PMPA is a joint action agencyproviding wholesale electric services to ten cities in upstate SouthCarolina.  PMPA’s current power mix, which includes nuclear,hydroelectric, and other generation, is 90% greenhouse-gas emission free. PMPA serves no retail customers.  Its member-cities serve approximately100,000 electric meters.

Santee Cooper

Santee Cooper is South Carolina’sstate-owned electric and water utility, and the state’s largest power producer.The ultimate source of electricity for 2 million South Carolinians, SanteeCooper is dedicated to being the state’s leading resource for improving thequality of life for the people of South Carolina. For more information, visitwww.santeecooper.com.