After nuclear fiasco, House sacks panel that oversees Public Service Commission

The state board that OK’d nine electric rate hikes to bankroll SCE&G’s failed nuclear project soon could get a new set of bosses.

The S.C. House Wednesday passed a proposal to get rid of the Public Utilities Review Committee. That group of legislators and regular S.C. residents screened and evaluated members of the Public Service Commission – the state board that sets utility rates.

The Utilities Review Committee will be replaced by a similar board subject to stricter rules. For instance, members of the new panel would be barred from accepting political contributions from utilities, which poured almost $300,000 in the campaign coffers of legislators who were on the Utilities Review Committee.

The Utilities Review Committee is among a number of state boards and agencies that has come under fire since Cayce-based SCE&G and the state-owned Santee Cooper utility pulled the plug in July on a $9 billion, 10-year effort to build two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County.

The Utilities Review Committee – made up of six legislators and four S.C. residents – vetted and gave positive reviews to Public Service Commission members who OK’d the nuclear project and approved rate hikes to pay for it. Those higher power bills have cost SCE&G customers $1.8 billion so far, though the V.C. Summer nuclear plant likely never will be finished.

Under the House’s plan, the Utilities Review Committee would be replaced by a new, larger “Utility Oversight Committee” that is subject to less control from the Legislature.

The new committee’s 12 members – six lawmakers, and six S.C. residents picked by the governor and State House leaders – would be barred from receiving campaign contributions, gifts or other perks from utilities. Since 2005, those companies have contributed $294,000 to the campaign coffers of legislators who are on the Utilities Review Committee.

The bill was the second V.C. Summer-related proposal to pass the House this week, following the chamber’s Tuesday vote to overhaul and strengthen the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff.

The vote Wednesday represented the Legislature’s first significant attempt at dashing the perception that the votes and actions of lawmakers, especially those on the Utilities Review Committee, were influenced by political donations from power companies.

“We imposed the most rigorous ethics requirements anywhere in state law over the Utility Oversight Committee,” said state Rep. Micah Caskey, R-Lexington, who defended the proposal on the House floor. “The House thought it was necessary to signal that we are not going to tolerate even the appearance of impropriety.”

SCANA, SCE&G’s investor-owned parent company, has donated at least $1.25 million to the campaigns of state-level candidates since 2000.

Those same lawmakers passed a utility friendly law, the 2007 Base Load Review Act, that enabled the doomed V.C. Summer nuclear project and left SCE&G’s customers on the hook for billions of dollars in nuclear debt.

“South Carolina ratepayers are beholden to these agencies to set fair and honest rates for consumers,” said House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington. “Those selected to screen state regulators must maintain the highest ethical standards. In an effort to promote transparency, all Utilities Oversight Committee members are prohibited from receiving gifts, compensation, campaign contributions or anything of value from regulated public utilities. I am confident the provisions in this legislation will better protect ratepayers’ interests by preventing biased or utility-favored decisions.”

Lynn Teague of the S.C. League of Women Voters said the House’s bill was a good first swing at rebuilding faith in the state’s regulation of utilities. She suggested tweaking the bill to term-limit members of the Oversight Utility Committee so its members don’t grow too cozy with utilities.

“Over time, you hear the same people making the same arguments over and over, and pretty soon you start to see things from their perspective,” Teague said.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 3:55 PM with the headline "After nuclear fiasco, House sacks panel that oversees Public Service Commission."