SCANA shareholders approve Dominion merger

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SCANA Corp. shareholders approved a proposed merger with Dominion Energy at a special meeting this morning in Columbia.

Today’s shareholder action met the requirement of an affirmative vote from at least two-thirds of the outstanding shares of SCANA common stock.

“We are pleased with the approval from our shareholders,” Maybank Hagood, chairman of SCANA’s board of directors, said in a news release.  “We believe the merger with Dominion Energy offers the most comprehensive solution for our customers and aligns SCANA with a company that mirrors our commitment to delivering safe and reliable energy.”

The proposed $14.6 billion deal has also been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Georgia Public Service Commission and received early termination of a required 30-day federal waiting period. It still must be approved by the S.C. Public Service Commission and North Carolina Utilities Commission and must receive authorization from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Cayce-based SCANA is scheduled to release its second-quarter earnings report on Thursday. The utility said in May that it would delay a decision on the payment of a second-quarter dividend on its common stock.

Dominion has proposed acquiring the embattled utility in a deal the Richmond, Va.-based company said will include average refunds of around $1,000 per S.C. Electric & Gas customer. Ratepayers of SCE&G, a SCANA subsidiary, and of the state-owned utility Santee Cooper were saddled with billions of dollars in debt after the companies, co-owners of a project to build twin nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant in Fairfield County, abandoned the project in July 2017.

SCE&G and Santee Cooper sank $9 billion into the reactors, with SCANA requesting and receiving nine rate increases during their decade-long construction, before construction delays and cost increases led to contractor Westinghouse declaring bankruptcy in April 2017. SCE&G customers pay around $37 million a month toward the abandoned reactors.

Dominion’s proposal would reduce the average SCE&G customer’s rates by more than $7 a month, the Virginia company has said, and a $1.7 billion-plus write-off of existing V.C. Summer capital and regulatory assets would eliminate all customer costs related to the project over 20 years. That’s faster than the 50- to 60-year period proposed in a November 2017 offer from SCE&G.

However, laws passed by the S.C. Legislature in late June that temporarily reduce SCE&G rates and postpone a ruling by the S.C. Public Service Commission on the deal until December have cast doubt on the merger’s future. The legislation also repeals the Base Load Review Act, the controversial 2007 law that allowed SCANA to request and receive the rate increases before the reactors were completed.

Dominion has said the merger hinges on it being allowed to recoup project costs from ratepayers.

On Friday, a federal court dismissed a lawsuit by SCE&G challenging the new laws and requesting an injunction to stop the reduced rates from taking effect. SCE&G appealed the ruling.   

Chet Wade, Dominion vice president of corporate communications, said in an email that Dominion CEO Tom Farrell would have no comment on today’s shareholder approval.