SCE&G customers have already paid $1.4 billion for the SCANA nuclear power plants boondoggle. That comes out to an average of $2,000 paid by each of the 700,000 customers from the nine rate hikes to date. With $27 of the average person’s power bill going to the now-abandoned project, if SCE&G does not change this rate, that will cost the average customer an additional $19,440 over the next 60 years — giving SCE&G a total of $13.6 billion to recover the balance of $4.9 billion it spent on the failed project. For the total of $21,440 that customers would pay on average for this abandoned project, they could have purchased solar panels, thereby reducing power consumption and obviating a need for increased generating capacity while lowering their utility bills considerably.
The State 19th Aug 2017 read more »
A rare eclipse set to traverse the US on Monday has sparked a tourism bonanza, as people flock to towns in its path to see the sun’s corona encircle the moon. The control rooms of the nation’s electric utilities will also be watching. That is because thousands of megawatts of solar energy will disappear as skies darken. In California, the grid operator is lining up additional supply from natural gas power plants and hydroelectric dams to accommodate the drop. PJM Interconnection, the grid spanning from Illinois to New Jersey, expects up to 2,500MW of solar power to be lost and will rely on replacement generation.
FT 19th Aug 2017 read more »
