Santee Cooper wants to dig deep into Mid-Carolina Electric members’ pockets.
The taxpayer-owned company provides power to the Lexington-based cooperative and others across SC.
It is asking the state Supreme Court to settle its dispute with the co-ops to avoid a long battle over a third of the state’s energy supply.
The company wants the cooperatives and their nearly 800,000 home and business members to pay for Santee Cooper’s failed $9 billion nuclear project.
Santee Cooper took on more than $4 billion in debt to build two reactors that will never be finished or provide their ratepayers the savings they promised 11 years ago.
The co-ops are on the hook for about $3 billion and are fighting to avoid the bill.
They sued Santee Cooper contending they should only be responsible for the cost of power plants that produce electricity.
If they win, Santee Cooper will be in an enormous financial bind. The utility wants a quick resolution before the dispute hurts its ability to borrow money.
Interim CEO Jim Brogdon told the Charleston Post and Courier he aims to “expedite the process” and uphold his board’s authority to set customers’ rates.
Santee Cooper accused the co-ops of trying to force it into bankruptcy and of being “unable to maintain its ongoing operations and fulfill its obligations to debt-holders.”
The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina said the suit “appears to be more about saving Santee Cooper and less about what’s best for consumers.”
Santee Cooper has tried to take its dispute with the cooperatives to arbitration.
That could have hidden the fight from the public.
Nearly 5% of Santee Cooper’s electric rates are to go to the unfinished reactors.
Its partner, SC Electric & Gas, collects 18% of its rates – $37 million a month – for the failed project.