The Latest on South Carolina’s Energy Future
You may recall that the legislative session ended in May without the General Assembly passing a controversial piece of sweeping energy legislation (H.5118). CVSC worked hard to block this bill, but it did leave some unanswered questions about South Carolina’s energy future.
In August, the Senate convened a special committee to try and answer some of those questions. So far, the committee has heard testimony from utilities, conservation groups, consumer protection advocates, and others. It now begins the process of building a new omnibus energy bill that will be formally introduced in 2025.
CVSC has been participating in this process, and we have noticed a few themes. First, South Carolina has to build more generation to cope with new load growth and the need to close down expensive, polluting coal plants. Second, utilities want the General Assembly to include certain provisions in an energy bill to make it easier for them to finance large projects (like a combined cycle gas plant at Canadys). These provisions include regulatory rollbacks that mimic those we fought in H.5118 as well as a ‘capital cost tracker’ that looks very similar to the Base Load Review Act that precipitated the $9B V.C. Summer nuclear debacle. Finally, the committee is very interested in some policy to help manage the impact that data centers are having on our energy needs, though it isn’t clear what that policy might look like at this time.
CVSC’s goals remain the same: we want to see energy generation that is clean, affordable, reliable, and secure; and we cannot support any regulatory changes that threaten the environment or customers. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that we don’t end up with legislation that prioritizes fossil fuels over affordable clean energy, harms customers, and threatens our environment. Stay tuned!