NUKE FIASCO AFTERMATH

SCANA executives say they are taking a pay cut.

It’s about time, critics say, but they still collect millions in stock and salary from 18% rate hikes for a failed $9 billion nuclear project.

In fact, says one critic, they actually get far more than 18% (Page A11).

SCANA’s top six executives received $11.8 million in compensation, the company reported.

Retired CEO and chairman Kevin Marsh was paid $5.2 million but walked away from millions in unclaimed stock when he quit last year, the Charleston Post and Courier reported.

The disclosure to securities regulators suggests SCANA’s board penalized top brass who mismanaged a $9 billion nuclear project.

But contracts ensured they wouldn’t leave without pay, the newspaper said.

Marsh was paid 46 times more than the average SCANA employee.

SCANA says its average worker earned a median salary last year of $91,500.

Critics say this figure is distorted by high executive pay and bonuses.

SCANA’s board decided against more bonuses and cut pay based on declining profits and missed goals.

Marsh and Steve Byrne, the retired executive who managed the nuclear project, took a 15% pay cut.

Marsh’s successor as CEO Jimmy Addison lost 17% while SCANA finance chief Byrne got $2.2 million and Addison $2.1 million.

Chief nuclear officer Jeff Archie got $1 million and retired general counsel Ron Lindsay got $1.2 million.

SCANA declined to comment on the filing, the Post and Courier reported.

Much of their pay came in SCANA stock which has lost almost half its value since the company abandoned the nuclear project but still charges ratepayers $37 million a month in hikes regulators approved for nuclear finance costs.

All this angered the public, politicians and 700,000 SC Electric & Gas ratepayers whose costs for the unfinished nuclear reactors account for almost 20% of their monthly bills.