Dominion isn’t the white knight for SCE&G customers or SCANA stockholders

I hope Cindi Scoppe is right when she predicts that SCANA’s recent dividends payments could scuttle the deal for Dominion Energy to buy SCANA(“We’re bankrolling SCANA dividends with our payments for abandoned nuclear reactors”).

I believe that SCANA stockholders and SCE&G customers would be ill-served by the takeover by Dominion Energy. Dominion Energy has a bad reputation in the areas it serves, and it has major influence on the politicians in those areas; the same will happen here if the buy-out goes through.

Dominion’s $1,000 rebate upfront is intended to bribe customers into supporting the take-over, while leaving the company room to stick it to the customers later. And remember that the USC economist who did the study to support the buy-out by Dominion was paid for by Dominion. Economists and pollsters have a tendency to manipulate statistical data and/or frame the questions in a way to achieve the answers and results they desire.

There needs to be a compromise that will keep SCANA from going bankrupt, maintain service and lower the rates while giving a reasonable but drastically reduced return in dividends to stockholders. This should involve reducing SCE&G rates by 8 percent and reducing dividends enough that stockholders don’t sell off and leave SCANA in trouble.

This will keep the employees from losing their jobs and getting on the unemployment line, while giving a reasonable protection to the customers as well as a majority of the stockholders who did not have a hand in this fiasco. Finally, the Legislature should find some way to punish Kevin Marsh and all the employees of SCANA who were involved in the cover-up.

The State publishes a cross section of the letters we receive from South Carolinians in order to provide a forum for our community and also to allow our community to get a good look at itself, for good or bad. The letters represent the views of the letter writers, not necessarily of The State.

This story was originally published April 28, 2018 at 7:11 AM with the headline "Dominion isn’t the white knight for SCE&G customers or SCANA stockholders."