South Carolina consumers will have time to either show support or air their grievances about their local utility’s long-term energy plans to an audience of state regulators.
The S.C. Public Service Commission said this week it will open the floor before a 10 a.m. Aug. 28 hearing and later that night for Dominion Energy South Carolina ratepayers to present oral testimony.
Customers of Santee Cooper, Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas also will be given a chance to weigh in at their hearings, which haven’t been scheduled.
The commission said it’s responding to demand.
“We are scheduling these public hearings because we have received a number of requests from customers of these utilities, particularly Dominion customers, because their hearing is coming up first and is already scheduled in less than 30 days,” said Florence Belser, who chairs the PSC.
Dominion customers have filed more than 50 public hearing requests, according to the commission’s website.
Typically, while ratepayers can provide written feedback about a power company’s long-term energy plan, the commission does not allow spoken public comments or questions as it does in other instances, such as when a provider asks to raise rates.
“Most hearings at the PSC are technically called ‘public hearings’ in that the public can attend (but not speak),” said Jalen Brooks-Knepfle, Conservation Voters of South Carolina energy project manager.
“What makes this public hearing different is that the public will be able to actively participate and comment,” she added.
Only Dominion customers who register for a time slot in advance will be allowed to address the commission at its Columbia headquarters during the hearing, either virtually or in person. In its Aug. 10 directive, the PSC did not provide information about how to sign up.
Brooks-Knepfle said unusually high numbers of ratepayers are requesting time before regulators because they believe the energy plans are important long-term decisions that will affect their lives.
Dominion filed its proposal in May. Known formally as an “integrated resource plan,” it’s basically a roadmap showing what kind of power sources the company will need to build or invest in to meet future demand as coal-fired plants are being phased out.
Dominion, which delivers electricity to more than 780,000 customers in South Carolina, has outlined 14 options in an effort to balance costs, environmental considerations and emissions. It includes adding more than 5,000 megawatts of solar energy over 23 years beginning in 2026 and 1,600 megawatts of battery storage.
The plan also calls for Dominion to retire its two remaining coal plants — the Wateree Station in Richland County and the A.M. Williams Station in Berkeley County — by the end of 2028 and 2030, respectively, and possible build a natural gas-fired generating unit with Santee Cooper.
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