CONWAY, S.C. — The board that runs Santee Cooper, the state-owned electric utility, meets Friday morning to decide whether customers will pay more for power over the next two years. Directors were scheduled to gather at 8 a.m. at Atheneum Hall on the Coastal Carolina University campus.
The plan on the table raises rates in two steps. For homes, the increase would be 4.7% in 2027 and 4.6% in 2028. Commercial customers would see 2.9% each year, while industrial customers would get 2.6% and then 2.1%. Across all retail classes, the utility puts the average at 3.3% in 2027 and 3.1% in 2028, or about 6.6% combined. If approved, the first step would show up on bills starting Feb. 1, 2027, and the second a year later.
The proposal also changes how some bills are figured. Instead of charging homes and small businesses demand fees based on their single highest hour of use, a new balanced demand billing method would average the top hourly use across the four highest peak periods each month. The commercial peak window would also shrink from four hours to three.
Santee Cooper leaders say the money is needed to keep the grid reliable as demand climbs and materials get more expensive. The utility added more than 17,000 retail customers in the past three years, chief executive Jimmy Staton said this summer. Since the increases were announced in May, the utility received more than 300 written comments, many from older residents and people on fixed incomes.
Big new power users are part of the picture too. Santee Cooper wants to swap its experimental rate for data centers for a permanent high-impact load schedule and lower the size threshold to 20 megawatts. That item is on the same Oct. 30 agenda.
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