COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – All questions about whether South Carolina senators and House members will have long and likely struggles over the sale of state concessionaire Santee Cooper were answered even before the start of the 2021 session.
House Speaker Jay Lucas made a rare appearance before a subcommittee on Wednesday to defend his work in shaping the future of Santee Cooper, whether sold or not.
The Hartsville Republican has reminded everyone that he wants the board that runs the company to be expelled, after saying that they have deceived lawmakers and regulators over a plan to lend more than $ 600 millionmainly to get lower interest rates on its current debt, but it also included $ 100 million in bonds for new projects not known to lawmakers.
“Either Santee Cooper’s leadership is incapable or dishonest. In any case, they need to go, ”said Lucas.
Lucas was responding to a Senate subcommittee meeting on December 31, where one of the state’s most powerful senators, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Luke Rankin, suggested that while the House’s motives were pure, his work could be incomplete for not to examine NextEra Energy, the giant Florida company that has emerged as a potential lead buyer for Santee Cooper.
“Whatever the House decides they will do with or without the facts – people will really want to know what’s going on here,” said the Horry County Republican as his committee approved a letter requesting 12 different items of NextEra information. and suggesting not to respond should withdraw them from any future bids.
The Chamber’s subcommittee approved a 48-page bill on Wednesday to reopen the Santee Cooper sales process and try to review the board that leads the dealership and how it operates. Santee Cooper can still set his own rates, but this process is supervised by regulators according to the proposal.
But this vote is only the first step on a legislative journey where the destination and how long it will take to get there are unknown. The 2021 General Assembly doesn’t even begin its session until next Tuesday. Lawmakers hoped to deal with this in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented any significant debate after March.
“This is going to be a long and difficult dance,” said subcommittee chairman Rep. Kirkman Finlay, D-Columbia.
Two members of the Chamber’s subcommittee voted against the bill. Rep. Heather Ammons Crawford of Socastee and Rep. Joe Daning of Goose Creek represent areas with Santee Cooper customers and employees. Both are Republicans, showing how the issue falls less through party lines and more through the protection of a public service created by the state during the Great Depression to finally bring electricity to rural areas or whether the state should be in the energy business.
The Senate subcommittee on December 31 approved a letter from Senator Stephen Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet, demanding that NextEra deliver any communication between its officials or lobbyists and lawmakers, the governor and the state agency that spent $ 15 million in the year past to analyze bids to buy Santee Cooper and decided that the Florida utility company made the best offer to be the only possible buyer.
Senators also requested any payments or campaign contributions from NextEra made to lawmakers or their companies, as well as money they gave to business groups, political blogs or to influence social media.
NextEra did not comment publicly on the request.
Senator Chip Campsen is a Republican from the Isle of Palms who often cites the Federalist Articles in his effort to keep the government where he thinks the drafters of the US Constitution intended. He said he thinks both Santee Cooper taxpayers and state taxpayers can benefit if a public service reform makes it more efficient.
“We make decisions based on the facts of the cases we do. And I don’t know what the facts are, ”said Campsen at the Senate subcommittee meeting on December 31. “I have no commitment to sell it. I am not committed to maintaining it. “
Santee Cooper has been heavily scrutinized since it joined as a minority partner in the construction of two nuclear reactors and ended up with nothing more than $ 4 billion in debt when SCANA Corp. abandoned the project. Two former SCANA executives have agreed to plead guilty to fraud in the failed project.
Santee Cooper has about 190,000 direct customers, but about 2 million people depend on its energy through electrical cooperatives in all South Carolina counties.
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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.