COLUMBIA, S.C. – Today, Governor Henry McMaster joined Senator Paul Campbell and Representative Murrell Smith in releasing to the public the report on the bids submitted by parties interested in purchasing Santee Cooper or managing the publicly held utility. Campbell and Smith serve as Co-Chairmen of the Public Service Authority Evaluation and Recommendation Committee, of which the governor is a member.
To read the full report, click here.
The report's findings include the following:
- "A total of 10 distinct parties submitted 15 proposals. Most parties were shown to be technical and financially capable of managing large utility assets and most possess southeastern US power market experience."
- "Three critical economic objectives were met among the four full acquisition proposers (passing threshold criteria): (i) all offered purchase prices that fully pay off or provide for defeasance of Santee Cooper's debt, (ii) all project decreases in customer rates relative to ICF's BAU rates, and (iii) three of the four make no request to recover the costs of the abandoned Summer 2 and 3 nuclear power plants."
The report and evaluation of initial offers will be used by the Santee Cooper Study Committee in analyzing Santee Cooper’s future and in making recommendations to the General Assembly related to whether selling Santee Cooper is in the best interests of South Carolina’s taxpayers and Santee Cooper’s direct and indirect ratepayers, which includes the electric cooperatives.
The Santee Cooper Study Committee will meet next Wednesday, February 6, 2019 (thirty minutes after the adjournment of the Senate or House of Representatives, whichever is later), at which time ICF will provide a summary of its report and evaluation of the initial offers to purchase or manage Santee Cooper.