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SC regulators deny expedited hearing in Dominion/SCANA merger

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SC regulators deny expedited hearing in Dominion/SCANA merger

The Public Service Commission of South Carolina issued a directive Jan. 31 denying an expedited hearing in Dominion Energy Inc.'s plans to acquire SCANA Corp.

Dominion and SCANA on Jan. 12 filed a petition with the South Carolina PSC for approval of their planned business combination. They also requested a prudency determination regarding South Carolina Electric & Gas Co.'s abandonment of the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion, including a proposed customer benefits package and cost recovery plan. As part of the filing, the companies filed a motion for an expedited hearing to be held on or before April 17.

"This matter is too important and the matters contained in the petition are too numerous to address in the limited time proposed by the petitioners," PSC Vice Chairman Comer Randall said in his motion to deny the expedited hearing.

Randall noted that the last merger proceeding before the PSC took more than a year to be completed. "The current filing is both a proposed merger and an abandonment proceeding — something that has not been previously litigated in this state," he said.

The commissioner moved that the PSC adopt a schedule similar to one proposed by Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club. The environmental groups recommend a hearing in late July.

The PSC unanimously approved Randall's motion, which also consolidates the merger proceeding with requests for rate relief filed by the environmental groups and the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff for hearing purposes. (SC PSC dockets 2017-370-E, 2017-305-E and 2017-207-E)