By Jessica Holdman
COLUMBIA — A controversial energy bill is heading to the House floor over the continued opposition of consumer and environmental advocates, who say changes fell far short of addressing concerns over fast-tracking a new power plant in South Carolina.
A House committee voted unanimously Wednesday, March 20, to advance the legislation introduced last month by Speaker Murrell Smith of Sumter, R-Sumter.
The bill gives permission for Dominion Energy and state-owned utility company Santee Cooper to partner on a possible 2,000-megawatt natural gas plant on the site of a former coal-fired power plant along the Edisto River in Colleton County. But in the process, it introduces sweeping regulatory changes that have drawn significant criticism and rolls back consumer protections.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, in a statement, said despite tweaks made by House members, the bill “continues to favor utility bottom lines over South Carolinians’ pocketbooks.”
Lawmakers attempted to dial down language that critics had called a “signal” to utility regulators, who are elected by the Legislature, to push the gas plant through.
Rather than directly telling regulators they wanted to see the project approved, legislators changed the bill Wednesday to instead encourage the Public Service Commission to speed up the review process while still making its own determination on the gas plant’s worthiness.
“I think we are much closer to being balanced on that project than we have been to date,” said Rep. Russell Ott, D-St. Matthews.
Lynn Teague, a lobbyist for the League of Women Voters, said the new language is better in that it does not so flagrantly overstep regulators.
“However, the message is still there that the General Assembly has already made its decision and wants it to be rubber-stamped,” Teague said.
Furthermore, the bill reduces the number of regulators sitting on the Public Service Commission from seven members to three. And it re-inserts a conflicting directive to the state agency charged with representing the public interest during utility proceedings to “preserve the financial integrity” of utility companies.
In doing this, the Southern Environmental Law Center said the bill “guts” the regulatory process.
“Instead of lowering energy bills and reducing pollution, this bill lets power companies raise bills, destroy the environment, and profit on the backs of hard-working South Carolina families,” said Conservation Voters of South Carolina President John Tynan.
When it comes to the gas plant, utility companies argue it’s necessary to meet the power needs of South Carolina’s growing population, as well as major manufacturers the state continues to attract.
The legislation is almost guaranteed to pass the House, since its chief sponsor is the chamber’s leader.
Teague said what’s driving the urgency is a matter proponents have not sufficiently addressed during legislative hearings.
Across the country, utilities are running short on electricity amid a proliferation of power-sucking data centers and new electric vehicle and solar panel factories incentivized be the Biden Administration’s hallmark clean energy legislation.
Technological advancements in artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency have spurred the need for new data centers, according to reporting by the Washington Post. And in 2022, the nation’s 2,700 data centers used more than 4% of the country’s total electricity, a number expected to grow to 6% by 2026, according to the International Energy Agency.
Teague said utility companies are still offering reduced power rates to data center developers on projects that lead to only a handful of new jobs for South Carolinians.
“Data centers are doing nothing to deserve a special deal,” she said. “They should at least make them pay their way.”
In South Carolina, this type of development includes a pair of proposed Google data centers in Dorchester County, a number of data centers built by DC Blox around the state and a QTS Data Center announced in 2023.
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the S.C. Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier.
S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
