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SCE&G Told to Start Discounts on Customers' Bills Immediately

The Public Service Commission voted to uphold the law put into effect by the General Assembly, requiring rate cuts for SCE&G customers. The cuts go back to April 1, 2018. So, that means customers could also see refunds.

Columbia, SC (WLTX) - SCE&G customers could see lower bills starting next month as the Public Service Commission (PSC) voted to uphold the nuclear rate cuts passed by legislators last week.

The decision was unanimous during a special business meeting by the PSC.

The decision by the PSC can be found here.

"I move that the company implement the new experimental rates and that the one time rate credit for the months of April, May, June and July should be implemented with the August 2018 billing cycle," says Swain Whitfiled, commissioner for the PSC.

Not only will customers have lowered bills, but they can expect to get money back.

According to Whitfield's statement made during the meeting, a typical residential customer using 1,000 kWh per month could see a reduction of $22.37 a month, starting in August. The refund from April 1st could add up to nearly $90.

"So people should be waiting for that, but SCE&G is fighting in the court to stop all of this," says Tom Clements, Friends of the Earth. "I don't think it's settled yet, but the PSC has voted as the legislature directed that we will be getting some of our money back starting in August."

Clements was at the meeting along with lawyer Bob Guild. Guild says while the PSC's decision to uphold rate cuts is a win for customers, the commission took another vote that will make it harder to see private documents from SCE&G.

"So we're going to have a fight over what is and what isn't privileged, but the bottom line is anything that is not legally determined to be secret or privileged is fair game for us to talk about publicly," says Guild.

The PSC is expected to address their findings with SCE&G's abandonment of construction at the VC Summer Nuclear Plant by December 21st.

If a federal judge allows the rate cuts and doesn't side with SCE&G complaint that the new law is "unconstitutional," then customers will see rate cuts through Christmas.

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