MONCKS CORNER, S.C. — South Carolina's public utility has agreed to pay $15 million to help pay for a study to determine if it should be sold.
The Santee Cooper Board of Directors unanimously approved the payment Wednesday, but not before board member Stephen Mudge complained the payment wasn't discussed in legislation passed this year.
The new law requires state officials to hire a consultant to study if Santee Cooper should be sold, turned over to a private company to run or left alone.
The utility is $8 billion in debt, with about half coming from two nuclear reactors that never produced power.
Several board members and new Santee Cooper CEO Mark Bonsall say they are happy to give the state money so it can hire the best people to study the utility's future.