Senate Amendment 1
H 5118 - Session 125 (2023-2024)
Electrical Utilities, Electricity Regulation, and Economic Development

Senator Davis proposes the following amendment (SJ-5118.BJ0066S):

Amend the bill, by striking all after the title but before the enacting words and inserting:

Amend the bill further, by striking all after the enacting words and inserting:

SECTION 1.  (A) The General Assembly finds:
  (1) South Carolina is achieving remarkable economic development success, which is bringing jobs and prosperity to its citizens.
  (2) From January to December 2023, the state announced total capital investments of 9.22 billion dollars and over 14,000 jobs, the second largest amount in state history.
  (3) In 2022, the state announced 120 projects creating over 14,000 new jobs with 10.27 billion dollars in new capital investment, the largest amount in state history.
  (4) Since 2017, the state has announced over 36.4 billion dollars in new investments and 86,378 new jobs.
  (5) Sustaining this success in economic development requires an electric system that can grow and modernize to meet the demands that a prosperous and developing economy places on it.
  (6) According to the U.S. Census Bureau, South Carolina led the nation in population growth in 2023.
  (7) The rapidly expanding population and record-breaking economic development successes necessitate a strategic and forward-thinking approach to developing new energy infrastructure capable of meeting the energy needs of South Carolina's residents and supporting the continued prosperity of the state.
  (8) The urgency of addressing this situation is underscored by the interconnected challenges of meeting surging energy demand, ensuring grid reliability, and fortifying the state's resilience against potential disruptions, thereby compelling the imperative for the timely construction of new generation and transmission facilities to safeguard the continued well-being and economic vitality of South Carolina.
  (9) The economic and financial well-being of South Carolina and its citizens depends upon continued economic development, industry retention, and opportunities for job attraction and retention.
  (10) Major commercial and industrial enterprises with the potential to bring substantial investments and employment opportunities are increasingly making decisions on the location of new facilities and investments in existing facilities based on the availability of safe, reliable, and affordable electricity generated from a diverse portfolio of resources.
  (11) Electrical utilities, the South Carolina Public Service Authority, and electric cooperatives are critical economic development and industry retention partners for South Carolina by offering affordable power that has helped to attract jobs and associated development.
  (12) Natural gas combined-cycle generation provides dispatchability and operating flexibility that will allow the State's electrical utilities and the South Carolina Public Service Authority to add large amounts of flexible resources to their systems without jeopardizing cost-efficient and reliable service to customers.
  (13) Integrated resource planning by the State's electrical utilities and the South Carolina Public Service Authority consistently indicates the need for and benefit of additional combined-cycle natural gas resources under multiple planning scenarios.
  (14) Cooperatively building new generation resources can enable the State's electrical utilities and the South Carolina Public Service Authority to benefit from economies of scale to reduce the capital cost of these units compared to building single, stand-alone units sized to meet their individual needs alone, while at the same time reducing the environmental and land-use impact of the natural gas pipeline and transmission infrastructure required to support separate units.
  (15) Cooperatively building projects can provide a unique opportunity to anchor the expansion of natural gas pipelines serving certain coastal counties of South Carolina where economic development is currently hampered by the lack of such supplies, thereby increasing jobs, prosperity, and public welfare in those areas, and cooperatively built projects do so with minimal environmental disruption.
  (16) The rates, services, and operations of electrical utilities are a matter of public interest, and the availability of an adequate, reliable, and economical supply of electric power and natural gas to the people and economy of South Carolina is a matter of public policy.
  (17) Certain aspects of the current regulatory structure in South Carolina can be revised to reduce the cost, delay, and uncertainty of planning, siting, and constructing new generation and transmission resources serving customers in this state.
  (18) It is important that the General Assembly take action to ensure that generation and transmission providers are able to plan, site, and construct new and replacement generation and transmission resources in a timely and cost-effective manner, utilizing procedures that are fair, prompt, efficient, and guided by an informed Public Service Commission.
  (19) It is important that the General Assembly take action to ensure that permitting and litigation processes for utility facilities are streamlined and do not cause unnecessary cost and delay.

 (B) The General Assembly declares it is the policy of this State to:
  (1) ensure South Carolina customers have access to an adequate, reliable, and economical supply of energy resources;
  (2) sustain growth in industrial and economic development by ensuring an electric generation, transmission, and distribution system that can grow and modernize to meet the demands that a prosperous and developing economy places on it;
  (3) provide fair regulation of electrical utilities in the interest of the public in a manner that maintains the financial integrity of the electrical utility by assuring a sufficient and fair rate of return, supports economic development and industry retention, and provides just and reasonable rates to be established for entities providing electrical utility services to customers in this State while promoting adequate, reliable, and economical utility service to all of the citizens and residents of this State;
  (4) provide the State and the public with a well-regulated electrical utility environment;
  (5) assure that resources necessary to meet future growth through the provision of adequate, reliable electrical utility and South Carolina Public Service Authority services include use of the entire spectrum of demand-side options, including but not limited to, conservation, load management, and energy efficiency programs as additional sources of energy supply and energy demand reduction;
  (6) provide just and reasonable rates and charges for electrical utility and South Carolina Public Service Authority services without undue preferences or advantages, or unfair or destructive competitive practices, and consistent with long-term management and conservation of energy resources by avoiding wasteful, uneconomic generation and uses of energy;
  (7) assure that facilities necessary to meet future growth can be financed by the utilities operating in this State on terms which are reasonable and fair to both the customers and existing investors of such utilities, and to that end, to authorize fixing of rates in such a manner as to result in lower costs of new facilities and lower rates over the operating lives of such new facilities;
  (8) recognize the important role of utilities in economic development and industry retention, and the necessity for utilities to maintain the ability to finance continued investment in, and operation and maintenance of, the electric system, rapid restoration of power after major storms and outages, rate designs, and infrastructure necessary to attract and retain businesses and jobs to South Carolina, to maintain the ability to obtain financing at attractive rates, and to ensure a viable workforce for providing electricity and to attract such utility workers at market-competitive wages;
  (9) seek to encourage and promote harmony between public utilities, their users, and the environment;
  (10) foster the continued service of electrical utilities and the South Carolina Public Service Authority on a well-planned and coordinated basis that is consistent with the level of energy needed for the protection of public health and safety, and for the promotion of the general welfare, economic development, and industry retention;
  (11) seek to adjust the rate of growth of regulated energy supply facilities serving the State to the policy requirements of statewide economic development and industry retention;
  (12) encourage the continued study and research on new and innovative rate designs, which will protect the State, the public, the ratepayers, and the utilities;
  (13) facilitate the construction of facilities in and the extension of natural gas service to unserved and underserved areas in order to promote the public welfare throughout the State;
  (14) encourage electric providers to cooperate and collaborate on the development of new energy infrastructure where economies of scale and spreading of cost and risk bring benefit to consumers;
  (15) further the development of cleaner energy technologies on a cost-effective basis to protect the natural resources of this State, promote the health and well-being of the people of this State, and attract investments, create employment opportunities, drive economic growth, and foster innovation in this State; and
  (16) accomplish regulatory processes and issue orders in a timely manner.

 (C) The General Assembly finds that comprehensive legislation is needed to promote the development of new and reliable energy infrastructure resources, fostering resilient and reliable energy infrastructure critical to the economic success of the state of South Carolina.

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.