Building Into Growth: How Public Power Financing Works for You
South Carolina is growing — and so is the demand for reliable, affordable electricity. As new homes, businesses and industries move in, Santee Cooper is preparing today to meet the energy needs of tomorrow.
That’s why we’re investing in new generation projects and infrastructure — responsibly, efficiently and with our customers’ long-term interests at heart.
Building for the Future
By planning ahead, Santee Cooper is building into growth. Our investments in new generation will support the state’s expanding economy and population, ensuring that we can deliver the reliable power South Carolinians depend on for decades to come.
And because that growth means more customers, the costs of new projects will be shared across an expanding customer base, helping keep individual rates affordable over time.
Smart, Cost-Effective Financing
As a public power utility, Santee Cooper has a unique advantage: access to tax-exempt financing. This allows us to issue low-cost, long-term bonds that fund major projects in the most efficient way possible.
Instead of paying for a generation project all at once, we can spread costs over the life of the asset — even 30 years or more. That ensures the customers who benefit from these facilities over time are the same ones helping to pay for them, keeping rates fair and sustainable.
This tax-exempt financing also provides significant savings compared to investor-owned utilities (IOUs), both for Santee Cooper and for bondholders who invest in these projects.
Accounting for Savings
From an accounting perspective, our Sums in Lieu model helps directly support lower overall project costs — another benefit of public power that ultimately helps keep customer rates affordable.
In addition, by running multiple generation projects concurrently, we’re able to leverage economies of scale — using similar vendors, contractors, and materials across projects to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
Maximizing Efficiency
We’re also working to make every dollar count. Wherever possible, new generation projects are being located on existing or brownfield sites — places where infrastructure such as transmission lines, substations and water systems already exist. This approach reduces both costs and environmental impacts while helping us move projects forward efficiently.
Growth That Pays Its Own Way
Some of the most significant new energy demands are coming from large industrial and data center projects. These customers play an important role in South Carolina’s economic growth, but it’s important that their energy needs don’t drive up costs for everyone else.
Under our large-load rate structure, data center-related growth is funded separately and paid for by those customers, ensuring that general ratepayers aren’t covering those additional costs.
Planning Ahead, Keeping Rates Stable
These smart financial strategies help us to invest in future generation, and manage growth responsibly. Although we do expect rate impacts from these critical projects, we are able to reduce the potential impacts to customers through all of the avenues discussed above.
As a public power utility, Santee Cooper does not have shareholders and is focused on our customers. We know that our costs are paid by our customers, and our customers are involved in decisions about the rates they pay. Any potential rate changes will only occur through a transparent public process, including an extensive rate study, and with multiple opportunities for customer and community input before any decision by our Board of Directors.
Santee Cooper is investing in the future — in a way that’s fiscally and environmentally responsible, transparent, and responsive to customer need. By taking advantage of public power financing tools and smart planning, we’re keeping costs low today while ensuring reliable energy for generations to come.
