Report on bidders for state-owned Santee Cooper delayed along with debate over its fate
Lawmakers eager to decide the fate of state-owned utility Santee Cooper — whether to sell it, place it under different management or leave it as is — will have to wait.
The Department of Administration, in a letter to legislators, requested a 60-day extension on its Wednesday deadline, saying it needed more time to complete its report
In the report, DOA is expected to analyze bids to purchase or manage Santee Cooper as well as a proposal by Santee Cooper’s current leadership to continue running the utility.
“We are anxiously waiting for the report,” S.C. Senate President Harvey Peeler told senators Tuesday. “I ask you to keep an open mind. Hopefully, we’ll settle the Santee Cooper question this year.”
State lawmakers are considering what do with Santee Cooper after it took on $4 billion in debt to help pay for the expansion project at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant, abandoned in July 2017 after it was over budget and behind schedule.
Several bidders were expected to submit offers for the utility, but the state has not released the identities of those who made proposals. Companies such as North Carolina-based Duke Energy and Florida-based NextEra Energy were among those expected to make offers.
Marcia Adams, executive director of the DOA, wrote in the letter that the proposals have been “quite robust,” and progress is being made with the parties involved in the process.
“The department is actively engaging with participants to improve the sale offers and management proposals initially received in late November,” Adams wrote to legislators. “Additionally, the Department is working with Santee Cooper to improve upon its reform proposal.”
Lawmakers returned to work Tuesday for the second year of a two-year General Assembly. Lawmakers have pledged to settle the question of Santee Cooper’s fate in 2020, a year packed with several other legislative priorities that will command legislators’ attention.
Adams wrote the DOA doesn’t anticipate it will use the full 60-day extension authorized by lawmakers last year, when they directed the agency to complete the report.
“The additional time requested will primarily provide the department and its advisors the ability to continue to optimize the bids for sale and management proposals to recommend to the General Assembly,” Adams wrote.
Reporter Avery Wilks contributed to the article.
