COLUMBIA, S.C. — Dominion Energy is requesting a rate change for customers in South Carolina.
On Friday afternoon, the utility that provides electricity and gas service across a large portion of South Carolina announced plans to request a rate change to the base rate of thousands of customers in the state.
If approved, Dominion said a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month would see an average monthly increase of about $5 on their bill.
According to Dominion, a base rate determined by the Public Service Commission of South Carolina is a price that includes the costs involved with providing service to customers and the opportunity to earn a fair and reasonable profit.
The company said that since 2019, it has added over 40,000 new customers and spent nearly $2 billion on system improvements.
Dominion added that this is their first base rate increase in nearly four years.
Some customers said they were not thrilled by the news.
Ethan Cestaro moved to Columbia a few months ago and is worried another increase in his bill could make things difficult for his finances, especially since he has no other electric options.
"I can't say I'd be on board for it, mainly since I'm just out of school; I've got car payments, student loans, struggling to even pay rent in general," Cestaro said. "I can understand everything is getting more expensive everywhere you look, but I was a little bit hoping that getting into the summer and just putting on AC that I wouldn't be bottoming out my budget. But if it makes the system better and hopefully helps somebody, then I guess that'll be the goal as long as it's safer, I guess, and better for the environment."
As a Richland County homeowner, Doug Breland hopes a rate increase will mean better service.
"Sometimes I think some of these small things that nickel and dime us truly do nickel and dime, so it becomes a bit of an issue," Breland said, "Me being a homeowner myself, when it comes to electricity, things like water, I just think it's a bit of an ankle grab, so to speak."
News19 will provide updates when the Public Service Commission hears the request.