Letters: We’ve paid enough for SCE&G’s new nuclear reactors

If there is a power outage, we’re grateful SCE&G is there to restore it. But this does not mean we should have to pay the company back when it makes a mistake — especially a colossal one such as the 2008 decision to build two more nuclear power plants.

SCE&G had decades of warnings: Chernobyl, tons of radioactive waste and passionate opposition to the proposal.

Dismissing solar and other renewables as trivial, it plowed ahead, even convincing the Legislature to make customers pay now for future use. When it has cost overruns, the utility passes them along as a rate increase to the customer, as it did recently for the ninth time with the Public Service Commission approving.

A capital cost increase of $800 million is right around the corner. The PSC should be standing up for the customers. SCANA shareholders are the ones who need to shoulder the nuclear blunder from here on out.

This story was originally published November 27, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Letters: We’ve paid enough for SCE&G’s new nuclear reactors."