By Clay Brittain III, special for Statehouse Resett | As a major commercial customer of Santee Cooper, I know that the rates for the hotels and resorts we manage are low and that the reliability of the utility service for our properties is high. I am concerned about a possible change in ownership of Santee Cooper, and I have major concerns about the “sell Santee Cooper” debate that is taking place in Columbia.
Brittain
As it stands now, the South Carolina House of Representatives is about to pass a bill as early as next week that authorizes the sale of Santee Cooper – ignoring years of work and recommendations from experts who were tasked with requesting and evaluating proposals for the sale, management and renovation of the state concessionaire, which ultimately supplies energy to more than half of the residents of our state. Under H.3194, a committee of six legislators, three from the Chamber and three from the Senate, would decide the fate of Santee Cooper and could completely ignore the evaluative and informed negotiation process that has already taken place. Yes, H.3194 establishes significant reforms for Santee Cooper that would change the way the concessionaire operates until it is sold. But the reform elements of this bill are overshadowed by the rush to sell one of our state’s most valuable assets.
Casa SC needs to slow down.
For the benefit of customers and taxpayers, we should all want any transaction or reform to include independent negotiation, be transparent to its customers and stakeholders, based on known and independently verified data, and allow sufficient time for the best decision to be taken. be taken. This bill requires little or none of these considerations. In fact, it is entirely possible that the House’s nominees for that committee were already predisposed to a sale based on comments from their leadership. It seems that at this moment the Chamber is saying “at full speed”, without even looking to see if there are torpedoes in the water.
As noted earlier, we have already gone through this process … but here we are again. The Department of Administration (DOA), with several financial advisers and a thorough review, made recommendations to the General Assembly last year. The DOA recommended put options, third-party management or reform of Santee Cooper and the General Assembly considered many of them last year. However, these recommendations are now being ignored and the process is set to start again – probably because of intense lobbying and a misleading public relations campaign by obscure groups. What is the source of funding for these groups? NextEra recently declined a request from a Senate Judiciary subcommittee for details on its lobbying activity, campaign donations and payments to third party groups, which could speak volumes about what are the sources of this recent public relations effort to get around years of important and informed work on that subject.
There is a legitimate concern about Santee Cooper’s recent history. But there were also deliberate (albeit small) steps by Santee Cooper’s leadership toward reform. Did the utility do enough to retire? Not even close. But they also did not do enough to justify the transfer of one of our state’s most valuable economic assets to a private interest outside the state with less than transparent practices.
A lot of legislative time has been spent on the Santee Cooper issue, but it is a big decision. South Carolina must get it right. This is not a decision to be made based on old data, no process requirements and no guidelines. Any action – whether selling or refurbishing the utility – without careful and intense consideration of these issues would work against what is really best for Santee Cooper customers and the state.
Clay Brittain III of Myrtle Beach is president of Brittain Resorts and Hotels, which manages 20 resorts on the Grand Strand. Have a comment? Send to: [email protected].