Santee Cooper customers could see 36% rate increase MyrtleBeachSC News [Video]

The Coastal Conservation League sent the following Santee Cooper rate hikes notice to its members. Santee Cooper has stated that residential customers will experience an 8.7% rate increase, but in its analysis, the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff determined that some customers could see a whopping 36% increase in their average bills throughout the year! In some months, particularly in the winter, it could be even higher. That’s because Santee Cooper is proposing a radical restructuring of the way your bill will be calculated, which many customers will find difficult to understand and rearrange their lifestyles to fit. 

Santee Cooper

The utilitywants to impose a mandatory demand charge, which would make up a large portion of your bill and be based on your highest hour of usage each month during peak demand hours. That means that even if you did a great job conserving energy all month, your bill could go through the roof because of one hour of relatively high …