Charleston Currents – Santee Cooper

BRACK: Let’s look at how we do electricity in S.C.

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a huge disconnect going on with electricity in South Carolina.

On one hand, we’re in the second year of trying to figure out why there was a $9 billion debacle of a nuclear power plant project in Fairfield County being built by SCE&G and Santee Cooper. There’s been finger-pointing by legislators, finger-pointing about the legislature, testimony to regulators, lawsuits, and on and on. At the end of the day, it’s still a mess and it’s probably going to consume the legislature again in 2019. …

by Andy Brack · 12/03/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

Myrtle Beach crews cut trees to pull them off lines off 48th avenue. (Photos courtesy of Santee Cooper.)

FOCUS, photo essay: Santee Cooper crews restore power

Staff reports | Electrical power started popping off early Saturday as Hurricane Florence lingered, dumping rain throughout eastern North Carolina, the Grand Strand and Pee Dee. More than a million reportedly lost power in North Carolina. In South Carolina in Santee Cooper’s retail service area, more than 50,000 customers lost power in the storm.

But the utility’s crews, ready for days to jump into action, quickly got to work to restore service to homes and 21 transmission delivery points, most of which were in the North Myrtle Beach-Little River region, according to spokesman Mollie Gore.

Crews, who battled foul weather and wind for hours, were able to turn on the lights to 48,000 customers by Sunday afternoon – a huge effort after a huge storm.

by Charleston Currents · 09/17/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news, Photo Essay

9/17, full issue: Restoring power; Thanking public servants; More

IN THIS ISSUE | Sept. 17, 2018

FOCUS, photos: Santee Cooper crews work hard to restore power
COMMENTARY, Brack: Be thankful for South Carolina’s public servants
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Morris Financial Concepts, Inc.
GOOD NEWS: It missed us
FEEDBACK: On a national campaign for more civics in schools
MYSTERY PHOTO: A different kind of 21 Club
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Indigo
CALENDAR: Sign up to host a Lowcountry On the Table gathering

by Charleston Currents · 09/17/2018 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue

BRACK: What really needs to happen with General Assembly’s nuclear mess

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Until state legislators go through the five stages of grief over the $9 billion failure of building two nuclear reactors, they might just screw up things worse.

It’s easy to see where they are, so far, six months after the announcement by Santee Cooper and SCANA that the project in Fairfield County wouldn’t get off the ground, despite ratepayers paying more for power over the last 10 years.

First is the denial stage – that it couldn’t happen here. Evidence of this is the prodigious finger-pointing as everybody and his brother look for scapegoats.

by Andy Brack · 01/29/2018 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

HISTORY: S.C. Public Service Authority

S.C. Encyclopedia | The South Carolina Public Service Authority was established by the General Assembly in 1934 with the power to provide for navigation and flood control on the Santee, Congaree and Cooper Rivers; to generate electricity; to reclaim swampland; and to reforest the state’s watersheds. The prospect of using New Deal funds to build a hydroelectric generating station in the Lowcountry excited many of that area’s powerful legislators. These men envisioned a small industrial empire in the Lowcountry, supplied with Santee Cooper power. They created the Public Service Authority to negotiate with and receive funding from the federal government.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 03/21/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

MYSTERY: Airplane on a stick

Since you’ve had a couple of pretty easy weeks at the mystery photo, here’s something that is pretty tough — an airplane sculpture on a pole that contributing photographer Michael Kaynard snapped recently on a trip down a rural road. Hint: It’s not in Charleston County, but is within 100 miles or so. Send your best guess to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com — and make sure to include the name of the town in which you live.

by Michael Kaynard · 02/15/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos