COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A group of small businesses and community leaders say South Carolina lawmakers must take several steps to more closely watch utilities after $10 billion was spent on the abandoned construction of two nuclear reactors.
The group called Stop the Blank Check said Wednesday that lawmakers should repeal a law that allows South Carolina Electric & Gas and Santee Cooper to collect money for the nuclear plants long before they generated power.
The group also says publicly-owned Santee Cooper needs to be treated the same as private utilities and members of the utility oversight Public Service Commission should be appointed by the governor and not elected by the Legislature.
Stop the Blank Check also wants lawmakers to make shareholders pay the costs of the failed nuclear plants instead of customers.
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