New Dominion leadership team includes SCANA veterans

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A new Dominion Energy division that will contain SCANA Corp.’s existing operations and services will include several SCANA veterans on its leadership team, the Virginia-based company announced.

The new segment, Southeast Energy Group, will be led by Rodney Blevins, Dominion’s senior vice president and chief information officer. Blevins, whose primary office will be located in Cayce, will report to Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell. He became president and CEO of Southeast Energy Group when the merger between Dominion and SCANA was completed on Tuesday.

The group will also include SCANA senior vice president Keller Kissam, now president of electric operations for Southeast Energy Group; Russell “Rusty” Harris, formerly president of S.C. Electric & Gas gas operations and CEO of SCANA subsidiary PSNC Energy, who is now vice president and general manager of gas operations for Southeast Energy Group; and Iris Griffin, SCANA’s former CFO who is now vice president of financial management and integration for Southeast Energy Group.

SCANA CEO Jimmy Addison will serve as an adviser to Blevins until he retires Feb. 1, according to a news release.

“Jimmy Addison is well-respected throughout the energy and utilities sector,” Farrell said in the release. “I sincerely thank him for his leadership during the challenging times of the past 18 months. Jimmy has had an outstanding career at SCANA, and we wish him well in retirement.”

The $14.6 billion merger, first proposed in January 2018, won approval from the S.C. Public Service Commission last month. A $2 billion settlement reached in November resolving a lawsuit with ratepayers of S.C. Electric & Gas will also disburse to those ratepayers $115 million previously set aside for SCANA executives who would lose jobs in the Dominion merger.

SCE&G ratepayers paid $2 billion in rate increases related to twin nuclear reactors co-owned by SCANA principal subsidiary SCE&G and state utility Santee Cooper being built at the V.C. Summer nuclear power station in Fairfield County. After a series of rising costs and mounting delays and in the face of a bankruptcy declaration by project contractor Westinghouse, the reactors were abandoned in July 2017.

Daniel Stoddard, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at Dominion Energy, will remain in that role while adding the responsibility of chief nuclear officer for Southeast Energy Group. In that role, Stoddard will report to Blevins regarding V.C. Summer.

George Lippard, SCANA’s vice president of nuclear operations, will be site vice president for the V.C. Summer Power Station. He will be responsible for the operation of SCE&G’s existing single-unit reactor at the Jenkinsville facility.

Kissam will also serve as president of electric operations for SCE&G, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dominion. Harris is also president of Dominion subsidiary PSNC Energy and of SCE&G’s gas operations; and Griffin will also serve as treasurer for PSNC Energy and SCE&G.

“This excellent team, under the dedicated leadership of Rodney Blevins, will continue to provide safe, reliable and efficient electric and gas service in the communities SCANA served, meeting both load growth and customer expectations,” Farrell said.