State regulators plan to prevent electric co-op executives from robbing their member owners.
This comes as the Tri-County Electric Cooperative’s former chief was indicted for using his office to take more than $380,000 in cooperative benefits.
A Calhoun County grand jury charged Heath Hill, 69, a Lower Richland farmer, with taking $80,000 in cash and $300,000 in power line and electric services for himself and his family.
As a result, lawmakers now require co-ops to be transparent and put them under the Office of Regulatory Staff’s oversight.
With the new law, co-op board pay and benefits must be disclosed, ORS Director Nanette Edwards told the Chronicle. The ORS will audit them for complying with this requirement and others.
“The new SC Code Section 33-49-615(A) requires cooperatives to annually disclose on their websites all compensation or benefits by category paid to or provided for board members during the previous calendar year,” Edwards said.
Tri-County serves southern Lexington County and 5 other counties.
An investigation by The State newspaper found that Tri-County’s part-time board members were giving themselves high per-meeting pay, lavish trips and perks while their customer paid some of the highest rates in SC.
Tri-County board members raised their pay to more than triple the national average, gave themselves health and life insurance plans and created pensions paying each of them $81,000.
Hill made almost $79,000 as part-time chairman.
 Solicitor David Pascoe and the State Law Enforcement Division’s investigation produced the indictments.
The scandal at Tri-County led to new scrutiny of 20 electric cooperatives including Mid-Carolina which serves Lexington County.
The co-ops serve 1.5 million South Carolinians in all 46 counties and are owned by their customers. Any profits are supposed to be repaid to their members.
The State reported last year that co-op boards’ pay and expenses have soared.