Town halls set to discuss potential Santee Cooper sale

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Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated Santee Cooper's debt. The correct figure is $8 billion.

The S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce will hold six town halls across the state to foster public discussion on the potential sale of state-owned utility Santee Cooper.

Santee Cooper, co-owner of the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project along with now-Dominion Energy subsidiary S.C. Electric & Gas, is saddled with around $8 billion in debt, more than half of it related to the abandoned reactors.

“Santee Cooper’s future is one of the biggest financial issues that our state legislature has ever faced,” Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of the small business chamber, said in a news release.  “The public needs to be informed about the issue. The approximately $4 billion of construction debt the state utility owes due to the abandoned nuclear construction project must not be passed onto the ratepayers directly or through our electric cooperatives.”

The state has received several proposals to buy the troubled utility.

The town hall dates and locations are:

• April 2: Charleston County Library, 68 Calhoun St., Charleston., 5 p.m.-6 p.m. Co-sponsor: S.C. Coastal Conservation League
• April 8: Chapin Library, 400 14th Ave N., Myrtle Beach, 5 p.m.-6 p.m. Co-sponsor: The Horry Independent
• April 15: Orangeburg County Library, 510 Louis St., Orangeburg, 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Co-sponsor: Palmetto Promise
• April 23: York County Library, 138 East Black St., Rock Hill, 5 p.m.-6 p.m.
• April 29: Sumter County Library, 111 N. Harvin St., Sumter, 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
• May 1: Lexington County Library, 5440 Augusta Road, Lexington, 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. Co-sponsor: The Lexington County Chronicle