Regulators Limit Dominion Rate Hike, While Santee Cooper Plans Major Bill Increase
South Carolina has some of the highest electricity bills in the country, and rate hikes continue across the Palmetto State. However, customers are standing up to power companies by writing to regulators and speaking at public hearings. And we’re seeing results—as public participation grows, power companies are settling for lower rate hikes and agreeing to customer protections. We have more work to do to improve energy affordability, but South Carolina citizens are pushing us in the right direction.
We’ve already seen results during Dominion Energy’s rate hike request. Earlier this year, Dominion requested a 14.21% increase in customer bills. The company also wanted to increase Dominion’s authorized return on equity (the amount of profits they’re allowed to earn) to 10.6% and change rates to negatively impact rooftop solar customers. However, as opposition at public hearings continued, Dominion entered into a settlement agreement. The agreement limits the rate hike to 11.4%, reduces Dominion’s allowed profits to 9.94%, and mitigates the harmful impacts on rooftop solar. It also commits shareholder funds to energy efficiency and requires Dominion to help customers take advantage of federal rebates and assist income-qualified customers. These are big wins for customers!
Now, it’s time to turn our attention to state-owned power company Santee Cooper. Santee Cooper is raising residential customers’ electric rates, and it claims average bills will rise by 8.7%. However, customers could see bill increases potentially as high as 25% in some months. Santee Cooper is adding a new component to customers’ bills called a demand charge, which bills customers based on energy use at certain times of day when the power company is generating the most energy. This confusing change will make it harder for customers to reduce their monthly bills, especially rooftop solar customers.
Before, customers could save money by simply reducing their energy usage. Now, that isn’t enough. To save money, customers must reduce energy usage specifically on summer afternoons and winter mornings, without any exceptions. A customer could diligently keep their house on 78 degrees all summer, only to find their bill has shot up because they failed to keep their usage low one hot July afternoon. While we generally support policies that can help curb power demand during peak periods, we are concerned that this may come as a confusing and sudden change to many customers. Additional bill increases from Santee Cooper are also expected, stemming from high natural gas prices in 2023 and future gas plant construction costs.
If you’re a Santee Cooper customer, you can submit a written comment here, or sign up to speak at public hearings in Moncks Corner, Pawleys Island, Myrtle Beach, or virtually. Customer participation in Dominion’s proceedings helped pressure the company to reduce its request and develop programs to help ratepayers. These are important results, and we hope customers push Santee Cooper in the same direction!
If you have any questions about rate hikes, please contact Jalen Brooks-Knepfle at [email protected].