SCE&G filed for the increase in May under provisions of South Carolina's Base Load Review Act (BLRA), a law enacted in 2007 to add structure and consistency to the process SCE&G and other regulated electric utilities must follow when building nuclear power plants. SCE&G and Santee Cooper, a state-owned electric and water utility in South Carolina, are working to build two 1,117-megawatt nuclear electric-generating units at the site of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville, S.C. The first unit is expected to come on line in 2016, the second in 2019. The BLRA allows for annual adjustments to rates during construction of the units as a means of recovering financing costs associated with the project.

SCE&G President Kevin Marsh said paying financing costs while construction is ongoing, as opposed to waiting until the project has been completed, lowers the cost of building the new units by about $1 billion, which in turn reduces the amount customers will pay through rates for such things as the cost of capital, depreciation, property taxes and insurance associated with the project. "We estimate this will save our customers at least $4 billion in electric rates over the life of the new units," he said.

In a report filed recently with the PSC and the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff, SCE&G indicated that construction of the two nuclear units is proceeding in full compliance with the cost and schedule projections approved by the Commission earlier this year.

PROFILES

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company is a regulated public utility engaged in the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity to approximately 654,000 customers throughout central, southern and southwestern portions of South Carolina. The company also provides natural gas service to approximately 307,000 customers throughout the state.

SCANA Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Columbia, SC, is an energy-based holding company principally engaged, through subsidiaries, in electric and natural gas utility operations and other energy-related businesses.