COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – Dominion Energy agreed on Monday to postpone its request to raise electricity rates in South Carolina for six months because of economic problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Virginia-based utility asked regulators to approve a 7.7% increase in the fee, which it said was necessary to pay for system improvements in the state it purchased from SCANA Corp. in 2019. The increase would raise an extra $ 178 million per year from Dominion’s 750,000 customers in the state.
SCANA had to sell after losing billions of dollars in building two nuclear plants that never produced energy. SCANA customers have endured a number of fee increases to pay for plants that have failed.
The South Carolina Public Service Commission was holding hearings this month to consider the fee increase, which was contested by Governor Henry McMaster and several AARP groups to business organizations.
The Office of Regulatory Staff, a state enforcement agency, has asked Dominion to suspend the rate hike for six months due to rising unemployment and other economic problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Dominion agreed and will spend the next six months trying to solve other problems with the rate increase with the surveillance group. If they are unable to reach an agreement, regulators will restart hearings to consider the increase in July.