South Carolina Utility Seeks to Hit Customers with Hidden Taxes

COLUMBIA, S.C., Feb. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This week in South Carolina, monopoly utility South Carolina Gas & Electric (SCE&G) launched a new attack on consumers in the form of a solar bait and switch. After supporting the fundamental solar policy of net metering, the utility is now backpedaling. Instead of proposing net metering, SCE&G's proposal would impose hidden taxes on solar customers and prevent consumers from using the energy they generate on their own rooftops.

SCE&G has proposed a buy-all-sell-all arrangement, also known as a Feed-In-Tariff (FIT).  The national law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom issued a memo in 2013 outlining the negative tax implications of these arrangements.  Last year, a homeowner in Austin asked the IRS to examine these arrangements because of the tax issue.  Not only does a FIT raise tax concerns, but a buy-all-sell-all program also takes away consumers' right to actually use the energy they produce.  Consumers are forced to sell all of the energy generated on their roofs to the utility, get taxed on the sales, and then buy any power they need from the monopoly.  SCE&G's scheme would take South Carolina in the opposite direction of what the landmark solar legislation signed by Governor Nikki Haley intended. 

A recent poll found that 92% of South Carolinians believe that consumers who invest in solar should not be required to pay an additional fee to their power company. SCE&G's proposal flies in the face of the strong public sentiment for rooftop solar. Their plan only serves to dupe ratepayers and further entrench its monopoly. 

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