South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. on Aug. 7 said it will appeal a federal court decision denying the utility's request to stop the Public Service Commission of South Carolina from implementing a temporary rate reduction tied to V.C. Summer cost recovery.

The SCANA Corp. subsidiary will seek expedited consideration from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, to appeal Judge J. Michelle Childs' Aug. 6 decison. Childs ruled that SCE&G failed to establish that all required elements for injunctive relief were met.

On June 27, South Carolina General Assembly lawmakers approved a nearly 15% rate reduction for SCE&G to gut all but about 3.2% of the rates the utility charges electric customers for the scrapped reactors.

SCE&G filed a verified complaint for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief in the U.S. District Court, challenging the constitutionality of the state law and a joint resolution that hamper its ability to recover costs for the abandoned V.C. Summer nuclear expansion.

On July 2, the commission allowed implementation of an "experimental rate" to take effect on Aug. 7, retroactive to April 1.