How to fix Santee Cooper and its $8 billion debt has cost taxpayers $5 million.
The state hired 8 private firms to evaluate proposals to buy or manage the taxpayer-owned power utility.
So far they have charged more than $9.2 million – $5 million of it from taxpayers.
Costs to ratepayers of Santee Cooper, Mid-Carolina Electric Co-op and the state’s 19 other electric cooperatives could grow to about $11 million when the proposals go to lawmakers.
The SC Department of Administration has a $20 million pot to cover the costs.
It includes $5 million from state surplus funds, and $15 million from Santee Cooper, $10.5 million of which is covered by the electric cooperatives.
The DOA faces a deadline this week to present to lawmakers a sales bid, a management proposal and a restructuring plan by Santee Cooper. Senators and House members are supposed to choose an option.
DOA Director Marcia Adams has written Hugh Leatherman, Senate Finance Committee chairman, and Murrell Smith, House Ways and Means Committee chairman, asking for a 60-day extension.
The DOA is a Cabinet-level agency under Gov. Henry McMaster, who wants to sell Santee Cooper. But neither the governor nor his staff can have “access by any means” to “information obtained” during the department’s review process.
Even after legislators receive DOA’s recommendations, the public may receive limited information.
Talk of selling Santee Cooper intensified after the collapse of the Santee Cooper-SC Electric & Gas $9 billion nuclear project.
Santee Cooper for almost 8 years approved millions in grants and loans for economic development projects statewide while accumulating $4 billion in debt for the failed nuclear project.
Brundrett is the news editor of The Nerve. Contact him at 803-254-4411 or rick@thenerve.org .