Do you use Palmetto Electric? Keep an eye out for a check in the mail
If Palmetto Electric Cooperative is your power company, keep a close eye on your mail in the next month.
Checks and bill credits will be sent to customers who received power from the cooperative between January 2007 and Jan. 31, 2020. The refunds are the result of a settlement in a class-action lawsuit involving the failed nuclear construction project at V.C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in Fairfield County.
The unexpected credits (for amounts less than $25) and checks (for amounts $25 or greater) will be arriving in late November and December, according to a news release from Palmetto Electric.
The $520 million settlement is being paid by Santee Cooper, which owned the V.C. Summer project, along with South Carolina Electric and Gas, which is now Dominion Energy.
Palmetto Electric Cooperative did not own the failed nuclear project, but the coop purchases from Santee Cooper some of the power it delivers to members, so some may be due refunds or credits.
Not everyone will get a large settlement.
Refunds were calculated based on how much electricity a customer purchased through Jan. 31, 2020. If customer were members for only a short time before last December, they didn’t pay much for the nuclear plant’s construction.
If customers opened accounts with the cooperative in 2020, they did not have charges in their electric bill inside the class period and will receive no settlement.
About the V.C. Summer lawsuit
A class-action lawsuit was filed in 2017 following the failure of the construction project for two nuclear units at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in Fairfield County. Santee Cooper and SCE&G, now Dominion Energy, owned the project.
The lawsuit argued that consumers should not have to pay for the $9 billion put into the failed project. Before a trial date, the parties settled the suit.
The settlement agreement called for $520 million to be refunded to customers of Santee Cooper and the electric cooperatives that purchase power from Santee Cooper.
The refund or payment customers receive this year represents about 70% of the total refund. A second credit or payment for the remaining 30% will be applied in fall 2022.
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 9:08 AM.
