“This conspiracy to defraud SCANA customers is breathtaking in scope and audacity.””

FBI Agent in charge Jody Norris

By Jerry Bellune

JerryBellubne@yahoo.com

An up-to-now undisclosed deal may delight SCANA's 725,000 ratepayers.

A plea agreement with SCANA's top nuclear executive requires Dominion Energy to provide at least $4 billion in SC ratepayer relief “over time,” according to US Attorney Peter McCoy Jr.  

How that will figure into Dominion's upcoming August request for higher rates is not yet clear.

Critics are asking if state regulators will give Dominion what it wants depiste the $4 billion owed ratepayers.

Virginia-based Dominion acquired Lexington County-based SCANA in a $14.6 billion deal in December 2018.

SCANA subsidiary SC Electric & Gas settled a ratepayer lawsuit in December 2018 for $2 billion.

A preliminary $520 million settlement for Santee Cooper ratepayers was approved in March.

“This office will always protect the people of South Carolina and hold accountable those who seek to use positions of trust and responsibility to bilk taxpayers,” McCoy's statement read.

“As noted in the record, the defendant [former Irmo resident Steve Byrne] conspired with others to lie about the progress of the VC Summer Nuclear Station so SCANA could wrongly increase rates on hard-working South Carolinians and qualify for up to $1.4 billion in tax credits.

"We will not allow this conduct to go unpunished.”

Byrne faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison.

US District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis accepted the guilty plea this week.

She will impose sentence after reviewing a US Probation Office sentencing report.

Federal prosecutors have said the investigation is ongoing.

Others who may be indicted include Byrne's ex-boss, SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh, and CFO Jimmy Addison, their lawyers and board members.

The construction of twin nuclear reactors in Fairfield County was abandoned in July 2017 after years of mounting costs and construction delays.

SCE&G ratepayers were charge $2 billion in higher rates for the nuclar fiasco.

Marsh, Byrne and Addison assured the Public Service Commission for years that the project was proceeding well.

Federal officials are investigating whether those increases were granted based on deceptive information from SCANA executives who are alleged to have hidden damaging information about the project’s failures.

“This conspiracy to defraud SCANA customers is breathtaking in scope and audacity,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Jody Norris said.

“The FBI remains committed to ensure all those responsible for this crime, which only served to enrich a few by robbing families and communities within South Carolina, are held accountable.”

According to McCoy’s office, Byrne and other SCANA executives were aware in late 2015 of problems that would keep the project from meeting a deadline to qualify for a federal nuclear production tax credit.  

“At that time, he joined a conspiracy with other senior SCANA executives to defraud customers of money and property through material false and misleading statements and omissions,” the US Attorney's office said.

“In furtherance of the conspiracy, Byrne and his coconspirators made false and misleading statements to the South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC), the Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS), and the public.

"Byrne and his co-conspirators used both wires and mails in furtherance of their scheme to defraud.”

McCoy’s office said that Byrne submitted written testimony on July 1, 2016, to the PSC representing that SCE&G construction experts had reviewed the project schedule and determined it to be “logical and appropriate” with SCE&G deeming the project schedule “reasonable.”

“In truth, at the time of this statement, Byrne believed that the schedule was unreliable and unlikely to be achieved,” the federal agents said.