South Carolina Lawyers Weekly
A water and sewer company with a history of poor service told its customers that it was rebranding itself as Blue Granite Water Company at no cost to them. However, Blue Granite then relocated its headquarters to an office that ...
Read More »Public Utilities – Renewable Energy – Administrative Appeals – Mootness
This appeal addresses the Public Service Commission’s 2018 rates that an electric utility must pay to renewable energy producers. Those rates have been superseded by the rates the PSC set in 2019. Moreover, the General Assembly enacted new legislation in ...
Read More »Public Utilities – Renewable Energy – Administrative Appeals – Standing – Mootness
Two appellants in this case are organizations that represent utilities customers’ and environmental interests. The rates at issue in this case—those paid by utility companies to purchase renewable energy from qualifying facilities—do not affect those organizations. Any impact on customers’ ...
Read More »Public Utilities – Water – Fire Sprinkler System – No Dedicated Line – Appeals – First Impression
S.C. Code Ann. § 58-5-390 limits the fee a utility may charge for the installation and maintenance of a fire sprinkler system. The plain language of § 58-5-390 as a whole reflects the legislature’s intent to isolate the costs “associated ...
Read More »Public Utilities Municipal – Designated Service Area – County Certification Required
Laurens County has never certified the unincorporated area between the City of Laurens (Laurens) and the City of Fountain Inn as a “designated service area” of either city; therefore, contrary to Laurens’ argument, Laurens is not entitled to exclusively provide ...
Read More »Public Utilities Administrative – Municipal Water System – Untimely Petition – Conditional Approvals
Because the petitioner-customer did not file a request for a contested case hearing when respondent South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) initially issued permits to the respondent-town for its water system – waiting instead until the town ...
Read More »Public Utilities Administrative – Municipal Water System – Untimely Petition – Conditional Approvals
Because the petitioner-customer did not file a request for a contested case hearing when respondent South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) initially issued permits to the respondent-town for its water system—waiting instead until the town had invested ...
Read More »Public Utilities – Rate Decrease – Civil Practice – Federal Jurisdiction
After plaintiff abandoned its nuclear power plant project, the General Assembly passed legislation requiring the Public Service Commission to lower plaintiff’s utility rates and to prohibit review of this “experimental” rate until November. Even though plaintiff does not have access ...
Tagged with: Civil Practice
Read More »Public Utilities – Real Property – Easement Placement – Utility’s Discretion
Even though the plaintiff-landowner’s members now say they would prefer to have the defendant-utility’s power transmission line installed along the southern boundary of their property, they equivocated in the past. In choosing the easement placement that bisects plaintiff’s land, the ...
Tagged with: Real Property
Read More »Public Utilities – Municipal – Natural Gas – Neighboring Providers – Designated Service Area
Where the plaintiff-public works commission has already been providing natural gas in an industrial park that lies between the parties’ municipal boundaries, plaintiff has established a designated service area. Accordingly, the defendant-city could not offer its services in the park ...
Tagged with: Municipal
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