Want to buy Santee Cooper? SC Senate GOP leader says send in better offers

Utility companies with interest in buying South Carolina’s public utility Santee Cooper have a new invitation from a top lawmaker to put in updated offers.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, called on companies to submit this week a new and better offer to buy the state-owned utility ahead of the state Senate’s debate over whether to enact Santee Cooper reforms.

“If there are prospective buyers who would like to make an updated offer, based on how the world has changed, I would encourage them to do that. I would encourage them to do that very soon,” Massey said. “If there’s any merit to them, they’re going to have to go through the committee process and there’s got to be more people who will have to be involved in it.”

The Senate’s reform debate, expected to start this month, includes whether a reform package should look at board membership and who should have oversight over Santee Cooper’s energy generation plans and rate making. The proposal does not include a provision to consider purchase offers from private utilities.

For a few years, the Legislature has wrestled with what to do with Santee Cooper after it partnered in the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project, leaving billions in debt, while also increasing rates on customers for a plant that never produced a watt of electricity.

To work through possible options, state lawmakers charged the state’s Department of Administration to vet offers to buy the utility. Last year, the agency chose Florida-based energy giant NextEra as the preferred buyer. One other bidder — who legislators have identified as investment company Pacolet Milliken, though that has not been confirmed by the agency — also made an offer.

But senators did not like aspects of the NextEra offer, which included having approval of rates and energy generation plans in the hands of legislators rather than the Public Service Commission, which regulates utilties in the state. Last year, lawmakers from both chambers rejected an offer from NextEra to purchase the utility, Dominion Energy’s offer to manage the utility and Santee Cooper’s reform plan.

NextEra spokeswoman Debbie Larson said in a statement sent to The State the utility remains interested in Santee Cooper.

Despite a legislative rejection last year, NextEra remains active in South Carolina, whether its meeting with local community groups or running TV and digital advertisements.

The company has six lobbyists registered in Columbia, and, last year, spent $43,000 on lobbying at the State House, according to the State Ethics Commission. At least one member met with a senator in recent weeks to gauge his interest on a possible sale to NextEra.

“South Carolina is a terrific place to invest and do business,” Larsson said. “We plan to respond to Sen. Massey’s request and continue to be ready to demonstrate the value we could bring to Santee Cooper, its customers and the state of South Carolina.”

Lawmakers want Santee Cooper resolution

As much as state lawmakers say they want a Santee Cooper resolution this year, coming to a consensus won’t be easy.

To start, the Senate is divided into three groups: senators who lean toward selling Santee Cooper no matter the offer, senators who will not vote to sell and some who fall somewhere in between, Majority Leader Massey said.

“If it’s a good offer, I’m willing to listen, but I’m not just going to give it away,” Massey said last Thursday.

But a sale in the Senate would be tough, Massey added.

“No matter what they do, they could have a meltdown on the Grand Strand and there will still be people who will say, ‘It was just a mistake. They didn’t mean too,” Massey said.

And then there is the state House. The chamber passed its own reform package in January, but also included in it a measure that would let the Legislature set up a special panel to consider offers for all or parts of the utility over the course of 10 years.

Any updated offer to buy the utility would come as Santee Cooper has agreed to a $520 million settlement in a ratepayer lawsuit over the failed nuclear project.

That settlement makes Santee Cooper more valuable, Massey said, as the risk of that litigation potentially going poorly for the utility is no longer in question.

“The world has changed a lot since then,” Massey said. “Santee Cooper has changed a lot since then. And, in fact, I’ll tell you that I believe the resolution of the Cook settlement, a significant achievement for Santee Cooper, but the resolution of the Cook Settlement changes the whole ballgame.”

State Sen. Ronnie Cromer, R-Newberry, is one member to have met with a NextEra lobbyist in recent weeks, he said.

He told colleagues last week the lobbyist asked what it would take him to support a sale. He replied, a “realistic offer.”

“We’ll definitely consider selling Santee Cooper if they (NextEra) bring us a legitimate offer without having to use a bully pulpit and mail outs without doing it under the cloak of darkness,” Cromer said.

Cromer would not specify what would make a realistic offer.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Luke Rankin, R-Horry, has led the push against a sale to NextEra, guiding the reform bill through the legislative process.

Rankin said wants NextEra’s efforts out in the open, and he has pushed through legislation to require NextEra to disclose all of their lobbying efforts in the state.

“My only ask, of those listening to us, if you’re going to make an offer, do it through the front door,” Rankin said. “So if there’s going to be an offer from whomever, please knock on the front door and share it with God and country, not just three or four or five people.”