Dominion Energy South Carolina to ask for rate increase next year

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Dominion Energy South Carolina is planning to ask state regulators to approve a rate increase in 2020.

Thomas Farrell, Dominion Energy chairman, president and CEO, said during Dominion’s third quarter earnings conference call in early November that the company will begin the filing process for increasing rates in mid-2020.

“We will be filing a rate case next year,” Farrell said. “We are under-earning in South Carolina. It’s well known to everybody and we’re formulating and completing that regulatory strategy now, but we will be filing it in May.”

Dominion Energy South Carolina spokesperson Rhonda O’Banion said it’s too early yet to say what will be in the filing because Dominion still is working on integrating the company after its acquisition of SCANA Corp., approved by the S.C. Public Service Commission in December 2018.

“In order to ensure that actual merger-related savings are reflected in electric rates on a timely basis, the Public Service Commission of South Carolina ordered Dominion Energy to file an electric base rate case in mid-2020 that would take effect Jan. 1, 2021, and include merger-related savings that would benefit our customers in South Carolina,” O’Banion said in an emailed statement to Columbia Regional Business Report.

The $14.6 billion acquisition agreement included more than $20 billion in refunds over a 20-year period to customers of former SCANA and current Dominion subsidiary S.C. Electric & Gas, along with a permanent 15% rate reduction. As part of the deal, Dominion agreed not to present a rate case until 2020.

Also in the conference call, Dominion announced its third quarter operating earnings were $1.48 per share. The company said better-than-normal weather contributed to strong performance that increased utility earnings by about $0.05 per share.