S.C. utility drops proposal to raise rates

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The state-owned electric utility Santee Cooper has dropped plans for rate increases in the next two years, after it canceled plans to finish two new nuclear reactors in South Carolina.

Company leaders in Moncks Corner, a town about 30 miles north of Charleston, said Friday that they will no longer seek increases of 3.5 percent and 3.9 percent that had been planned to help pay for the now-abandoned reactors.

Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. announced July 31 they were giving up on new reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station northwest of Columbia. The two utilities had already spent $9 billion, much of it paid from their customers.

Santee Cooper Chief Executive Officer Lonnie Carter said it would have had to raise rates by 41 percent to continue with the project.