South Carolinians’ power bills will go up over the next couple of years, but how much will likely depend on whether utilities accurately predict demand, a task that has grown more challenging with the rise of data centers.
Before approving nearly $700 million for new South Carolina power plants earlier this month, state lawmakers expressed concerns over how those investments could impact residential power bills. The new power plants from state-owned utility Santee Cooper will help meet exploding demand for energy in South Carolina, CEO Jimmy Staton told lawmakers.
But if the demand doesn’t increase how state-regulated utilities Santee Cooper, Dominion Energy or Duke Energy expects, there could be a surplus of power generated from new infrastructure, leaving customers all over the state with the costs, said Conor Harrison, a professor studying energy at the University of South Carolina’s department of geography. Projecting demand is complicated by incoming data centers, said Tim Johnson, the chair of energy and environment at Duke University…