By admin 
A group that represents thousands of small business people is urging the state Public Service Commission not to set a deadline for deciding on the proposed merger of Dominion Energy and NextEra, a corporate marriage being called the biggest utility union ever proposed in South Carolina history.
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As the Public Service Commission prepares to establish a schedule for the merger proceedings, the S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce has written a letter saying it’s a bad idea to make a decision on the merger by late next January, as the power companies propose.
Like environmental and energy groups following the issue, the small business chamber says the PSC needs ample time to consider the matter, so setting a rigid schedule for a decision may ultimately hurt South Carolina ratepayers. Their concern is that a rushed decision would not allow time to consider important protections for customers, such as ways to ensure monthly power bills are held in check.
The PSC has a special meeting Tuesday, Aug. 4 to discuss setting a schedule for the Dominion-NextEra merger. The current proposal is to decide the matter by early next year. The PSC also meets again Thursday.
“Establishing an expedited, six-month hearing process … does not serve the best interest of the commission and the ratepayers,’’ Small Business Chamber chief Frank Knapp wrote in an Aug. 3 letter to the PSC.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, a regional environmental organization, has urged the commission to look at a May timeline, instead of January.
Kate Mixson, an attorney for the law center, said the speed at which the schedule decision is moving isn’t necessary. The only advantage, it appears, is that deciding the matter by late January will keep legislative pressure from mounting against the Dominion-NextEra plan, she said. The Legislative session begins in January.
“We are running when we don’t have to be running.,’’ she said.
Knapp said he’s not even in favor of a May timeline.
“They shouldn’t put any timeline on this,’’ said Knapp, whose organization has about 5,000 members, including small business owners.
“When it’s done, it’s done,’’ Knapp said. “And if that doesn’t meet the deadline that NextEra and Dominion want for their business deal, that’s too bad. What’s being put in jeopardy from a business perspective if they don’t do it on the fast timeline?’’
The Dominion-NextEra merger would create a giant utility serving 10 million customers in the Southeast. NextEra is headquartered in Florida, while Dominion is based in Virginia but has service territory in the Carolinas. The proposed $67 billion deal would be the largest utility acquisition in history, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Efforts to gain comment from Dominion and NextEra have been unsuccessful since late last week, but House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, and Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, have told the PSC they have no problem with the power companies’ proposed timeline of next January for a decision.
Both Smith and Alexander have sought to intervene in the case, and some environmental groups, say the legislative leaders’ recent support for the utilities could unduly influence the PSC to favor the shorter timeline.
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The seven member PSC is a full-time board chosen by the Legislature. Its members are certified and reviewed by a powerful utility committee headed by Alexander.
One of the biggest concerns in establishing a timeline to decide on the merger by Jan. 29, 2027, involves events in two neighboring states. Public utilities’ commissions in Virginia and North Carolina also must approve the merger.
South Carolina should wait until those states’ have gone through hearings before making a decision in the Palmetto State, so that leaders in South Carolina can learn from the issues in North Carolina and Virginia, environmental groups and the small business chamber say.
South Carolina’s efforts to set a hard timeline come as some officials in Virginia are arguing against that in their state. Virginia has six months to act, but there are efforts underway to drop that requirement because of the size of the merger.
Knapp’s letter said rate cases, such as one involving Duke Energy recently in South Carolina, have taken six months to decide.
“These were routine cases in which the Public Service Commissioners had a clear understanding of and experience with the issues to be considered,’’ Knapp wrote in his letter to the commission. “This docket will be far more complicated.’’
He also noted that a 2018 merger between Dominion and SCE&G took 11 months to decide.
Rick Lee, who heads the S.C. Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Committee, said he has not studied the proposed merger timeline carefully. But in general, it makes sense to move deliberately on mergers, he said.
“It has the potential to affect a lot of South Carolinians,’’ said Lee, whose committee regularly discusses atomic energy issues involving utilities. “One would need to be fairly cautious about jumping into something that cannot be undone, without understanding fully the impact on the ratepayers. There is always this promise of reduced overhead costs and rates during these acquisitions, and they almost never materialize.’’
The Dominion-NextEra merger is coming at a time of increasing pressure to expand energy resources to fuel growth in the Southeast, including residential and commercial development, as well as data centers. Data centers have become particularly controversial because of the noise, water usage and the need for large amounts of electricity.
This story has been updated with comments from the Southern Environmental Law Center.
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