Virginia utility: South Carolina customers would pay $4B

COLUMBIA (AP) A Virginia utility seeking to buy a South Carolina utility says its customers would pay nearly $4 billion for a failed nuclear project.

Media outlets reported state regulators said March 21 the plan by Dominion Energy would require customers of South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. to pay $3.8 billion for the failed reactor project.

The plan calls for SCE&G residential customers to pay about $1.8 billion over 20 years. The remaining $2 billion would come from business customers.

The Dominion proposal needs Public Service Commission approval. But Dominion has said legal changes South Carolina lawmakers are considering would prompt them to withdraw the request to buy SCANA, parent company of SCE&G.

SCE&G and the state-owned utility Santee Cooper abandoned plans for two nuclear reactors July 31 after contractor Westinghouse’s bankruptcy.