Dominion Energy makes their sales pitch for SCE&G at Chapin breakfast

Chapin, S.C. (Sydney Pendrick) The Greater Chapin Area Chamber’s May Breakfast Meeting was held on Friday morning at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church. It was hosted by Dominion Energy VP of South Carolina Operations Dan Weekly. Weekly presented Dominion’s bid to combine Dominion Energy with SCE&G and explained the impact this would have on SCE&G’s electrical customers in South Carolina.

Dominion Energy is headquartered in Richmond, VA and is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy according to Weekly. It has customers in 19 states with Amazon being its biggest customer. In the past, Dominion has invested 750 million dollars specifically in South Carolina and is looking toward long term economic growth here.

Weekly said he knew and understood that SCE&G’s customers are angry and had many questions that they wanted to be answered regarding any proposed bringing together of the two energy companies. He explained that the issue of SCANA and its VC Summer disaster is something that their customers will be paying for over the next 60 years. Weekly said that Dominion Energy will try to help reduce these prices as much as they can.

According to Weekly, Dominion Energy can guarantee a 5% rate of return for its customers if they merge SCE&G into their company. At the breakfast meeting, someone asked why the rate of return could not be higher and Weekly explained that it was due to how much money Dominion Energy would be putting upfront with this merger.

Weekly promised that with Dominion Energy customers’ bills will be cut at least $10 per month and will offer refunds of about $1,000 or more depending on how much a customers’ average electric bill is a month. The refunds would be paid by the end of the year and rates would change effective immediately after a merger. At the meeting he also guaranteed that if the merger does occur, the SCE&G headquarter would stay in Cayce for its local customers’ convenience.

Weekly said that Dominion Energy will not know if the merger is a good buy until 7-10 years after the fact. As of now, Weekly believes it is the best thing for Dominion Energy and for SCE&G customers and will have a positive impact with everyone involved.

After Weekly spoke and the meeting broke up, the attendees all seemed to be discussing the merger and how it would affect them or their business. The merger of the two companies is certainly not guaranteed, but Weekly said during the meeting that Dominion’s best offer is on the table and he didn’t think there were any other suitors waiting in the wings with a better deal. The coming months will be filled with intrigue as government officials dig deep into what happened at VC Summer and who was responsible for its colossal failure.