The Santee Cooper Board of Directors on Dec. 9 approved $1.5 billion in non-fuel operations and maintenance costs and capital spending for 2025, as part of its annual budget review for the utility. The board also approved new base rates for retail customers, offering new flexibility for customers to control their monthly bills.
Santee Cooper is the state-owned public power utility in South Carolina.
Santee Cooper’s total 2025 budget, including the Board-approved components, is $3.2 billion. That includes $2.2 billion for the electric system, $11.1 million for the water systems, and $950 million for capital expenditures.
Approximately 41% of the overall electric system budget is allocated for fuel and purchased power, which does not require Board approval.
Of the $950 million in capital expenditures, $935.7 million is for electric system construction and capital equipment spending, which includes $107 million primarily for environmental projects and $829 million for the transmission and distribution systems and system-wide improvements.
“This budget supports our strategic objectives and priorities as we work to meet growing customer demand. By investing in improvements and necessary maintenance on our system, Santee Cooper can continue to provide our customers with safe, reliable and affordable service they expect and deserve,” said Jimmy Staton, President and CEO of Santee Cooper.
New Base Rates
The new rates approved by the board will take effect in April 2025 and mark the first increase in base rates since 2017.
The approval comes after a months-long public input process that included significant customer feedback.
“The new rates will allow Santee Cooper to keep customers’ monthly bills below the state and national averages while we work to meet growing customer demand, invest in our electric system, and comply with new regulations,” said Staton.
Under the approved rates, the typical residential customer will see an average $11 increase in their monthly bill. However, customers will have flexibility to reduce their monthly bills by staggering or delaying their use of energy-intensive appliances, including their clothes dryer and water heater.
Compared to current rates, approved rate changes for residential customers on the RG (general services residential) rate include a lower energy charge, dropping from 11.97 cents per kilowatt-hour in the summer and 9.97 cents in the winter to a new year-round 7.92 cents; a slightly increased monthly customer charge from $19.50 to $20; and a new demand charge of $8.00 per kilowatt (kW) for the peak hour each month when a customer uses the most electricity. Peak hours are 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. April through October and 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. November through March.
Approved rates for residential customers on the RT, or residential time-of-use, rate include an $8 decrease in the monthly customer charge, a slightly decreased on-peak summer energy charge, a slightly increased on-peak non-summer energy charge, and an increased off-peak energy charge. Peak hours mirror the RG rate and are 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. April through October and 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. November through March.
The approved rates include making permanent what have been experimental REV and EVO electric vehicle rates, with some modifications and a new on-peak demand charge. The Super Off-Peak energy charge remains the same, and charging windows will remain from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the REV rate and 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the EVO rate.
Approved rates for commercial customers include a slight increase in the customer charge for all rate categories and, for Small General Service (GA) customers, a reduced on-peak energy charge and the addition of a demand charge.
The Board approved an Experimental Rate for low-load factor/low-usage commercial customers and slight changes to demand charges and energy charges for other commercial customers.
The Board also approved new rates for industrial, solar and lighting customers.
Santee Cooper Names New General Counsel, Chief Strategy and Communications Officer
In other news, Santee Cooper has named Carmen H. Thomas as its Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel and B. Shawan Gillians as its Chief Strategy and Communications Officer. The utility’s Board of Directors approved both positions at its Dec. 9, 2024, meeting.
Thomas is replacing Pamela Williams, who has announced her retirement. Gillians is taking a new position.
Thomas has extensive experience with public power utilities, having represented Santee Cooper in a variety of contexts over the past 17 years, most of that as a partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP.
Prior to her legal practice, Thomas served as Planning Manager at the S.C. Department of Commerce focused on economic, community, and rural development projects. She is a former State Planner with the S.C. Energy Office, where she coordinated the state’s annual Strategic Energy Action Plan and implemented energy use and renewable energy policies and projects for South Carolina. She also served with the S.C. General Assembly as a law clerk with the Senate Judiciary Committee and legislative aide with the House of Representatives.
Gillians has held several positions at Santee Cooper, including serving as the utility’s first Director of Sustainability and Associate General Counsel, a position she was named to in January 2023.
She joined Santee Cooper in 2011 as an attorney, and has served as Associate General Counsel, Treasurer, and also Director of Legal Services and Corporate Secretary. She has been in private practice with Buist Moore Smythe McGee, and later with Womble Bond Dickinson, where she specialized in energy matters.
