NextEra didn’t share Santee Cooper lobbying efforts. SC senators look to require it

A group of South Carolina senators want to force Florida-based utility NextEra to provide information about its lobbying efforts to buy Santee Cooper.

The Senate Judiciary Committee pushed forward a resolution Wednesday to require NextEra to disclose communications it had with South Carolina lawmakers and officials since July 31, 2017, when state-owned Santee Cooper and SCE&G abandoned efforts to build two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer power station in Fairfield County.

The failure of the project led the state to debate whether to sell or reform Santee Cooper, which directly or indirectly serves 2 million South Carolinians, and how to handle the debt from the project which never produced any electricity.

Lawmakers and the Department of Administration undertook a process to consider proposals for selling Santee Cooper, having an outside entity come in and manage the utility and reforming the utility.

Last year, the Department of Administration selected NextEra as the preferred bidder to buy Santee Cooper. However, legislators rejected NextEra’s purchase offer, as well as Virginia-based Dominion Energy’s proposal to manage the utility and Santee Cooper’s reform plan.

In 2019 Dominion purchased SCE&G parent company SCANA. Since then one former SCANA executive has pleaded guilty and another is set to plead guilty later this month for fraud connected to the nuclear project.

Senators in December sent a letter to NextEra asking information about the company’s lobbying efforts in South Carolina. In mid-January, NextEra CEO Jim Robo declined the request.

“NextEra has provided a very significant quantity of information and material related to our business, to the goals and objectives in our bid, and to how we would serve the residents and businesses currently served by Santee Cooper,” Robo wrote in response to state Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Horry, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Robo added in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The State, that NextEra already had provided a lot of information: He had testified in front of legislators from both chambers, and the company routinely provides information and data made publicly available because it’s a business in a heavily regulated industry.

“Respectfully, therefore, NextEra Energy will not be providing additional documentation at this time,” Robo wrote at the time.

Senators want correspondence between NextEra and the Governor’s Office, the Department of Administration, lawmakers, their staff members, campaign contributions they’ve made and their lobbying efforts since July 2017. Senators also want a list of law firms, consultants and lobbyists NextEra has hired and how much the utility has spent on lobbying efforts.

The desire to learn more of NextEra’s activities in the state comes as lawmakers look to resolve the future of state-owned Santee Cooper.

Last year, lawmakers rejected NextEra’s purchase offer, Dominion’s management offer and Santee Cooper’s reform plan. Senators wanted to push their own reform plan, while House members looked to continuing negotiating with NextEra while also looking at reforms.

This year, as the Santee Cooper debate has resumed, lawmakers want more transparency from NextEra.

House members are pushing legislation to directly hear more offers for the utility, while also enacting other reforms. The Senate is opening the door to a possible sale as the Finance Committee has started its own panel to evaluate the utility’s future.

Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, has even said without meaningful reform and increased oversight, the state should divest itself of Santee Cooper.

But the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rankin, is weighing in on the debate while holding its own meetings.

“My interest is the ratepayer,” Rankin said. “What’s the best interest of the ratepayer, and the bondholders, and the math will speak for itself in terms of whether an outside for profit company can deliver a better product at a cheaper price than currently exists under state law.”

State Sen. Dick Harpootlian likened the proposed move to issuing a subpoena, and questioned whether NextEra followed the bid requirements.

In the NextEra bid proposal, the company wanted the General Assembly to address issues normally under the purview of the Public Service Commission, the state’s utility regulatory body.

Harpootlian also referred to NextEra’s failed bid to purchase the electric utility in Jacksonville, Florida, and whether the company did anything inappropriate during that process.

“What we’ve asked for is a list of things that would explain why perhaps (NextEra) had influence they shouldn’t have had,” Harpootlian said.

“The fact they’re unwilling to answer any of the questions raises questions to me,” Harpootlian added. “They haven’t answered any of these questions.”

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said he has concerns this type of demand of a business would have a chilling effect on other businesses and economic development efforts in the state.

Communications with legislators are exempt from the state’s open records law, Massey noted.

“I’ve never seen anything like this coming out of the General Assembly,” Massey said. “Is this going to be the practice going forward? ... The perception is that these questions are, ‘Are you going to start making people disclose when you have a spat with a senator, or the senator disagrees with us on something?’ ”

Ultimately the legislation, if the approved the full Senate, also has to be approved by the House and signed by the governor.