Dominion Energy announced the completion of its merger on Wednesday with a South Carolina utility drowning in debt after the failure of a nuclear construction project.
The Virginia-based company said that it had finalized the deal to pay $6.8 billion for SCANA Corp.’s stock and also assumed SCANA’s consolidated net debts of $6.6 billion.
Dominion was the only buyer that expressed interest in SCANA, the parent company of South Carolina & Gas, following the company’s abandonment of a nuclear reactor construction project at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station. Along with state-owned utility Santee Cooper, a minority owner in the project, SCANA said in the summer of 2017 that it was shuttering the effort following the bankruptcy of lead contractor Westinghouse.
The implosion spawned multiple lawsuits, some by ratepayers claiming company executives knew the project was doomed and misled consumers as well as regulators as they petitioned for a series of rate hikes. State and federal authorities also are investigating the debacle.
More than 737,000 SCE&G customers have already paid more than $2 billion toward the project, which never generated any power. State lawmakers haggled for months over possible plans to recoup some of those losses, ultimately overriding Gov. Henry McMaster’s veto of a plan that scrapped all but $5 of a monthly surcharge fee.