Our coal-loving state owned power utility has put forth a lot of talk about how they’re green in the last few months, while simultaneously pushing to build a coal-fired power plant that will release more CO2 and mercury into our air and water.
But… they’ve finally actually done something. Or at least they’ve made it easier for YOU to do something.
Homeowners, listen up. Santee Cooper will give you a tax-free loan of up to $40,000 to put solar panels on your house.
Here’s the story from the Regional Business Journal…
Looking for creative solutions to produce more energy without emitting greenhouse gases, Santee Cooper announced last week that the utility will offer interest-free loans to customers to cover their cost of installing solar panels or other renewable energy-generating equipment.
The maximum loan amount is $40,000. As part of the plan, the public utility will purchase excess energy back from customers and place it on the grid.
“Renewable energy is a key focus for us as we meet our customers’ need for electricity now and into the future,” said Marc Tye, Santee Cooper vice president of conservation and renewable energy. “Helping customers in this way sends them the signal that we are serious about Santee Cooper Green.”
Santee Cooper Green is the term the utility coined for its goal of generating at least 40% of its power by 2020 from sources that don’t emit greenhouse gases such as solar, wind and nuclear. Successful conservation efforts also will count toward the goal.
The state’s only public utility, which provides power to some 2 million electric customers, rolled out the aggressive agenda while fighting a public relations battle over plans to construct a new coal-fired plant in Florence County.
Environmental groups have assailed the utility, arguing that coal is the dirtiest form of producing electricity, but Santee Cooper says it can’t keep up with rising energy demands without it, and that a new plant would implement the latest environmental control technology that would meet or exceed federal environmental standards.
To talk to a Santee Cooper marketing representative about the loans, call 843-347-3399, ext. 3277, in Horry and Georgetown counties and 843-761-8000, ext. 3277, in Berkeley County.
This is very good news.
One Comment
I received an email from a Santee Cooper employee that said this…
I thought you might like to know that Santee Cooper is actually one of
23 publicly owned electric utilities in South Carolina, and the largest,
so we’re not the only public utility in S.C. They are:
Abbeville Public Utilities
Bamberg Board of Public Works (Santee Cooper is their source of power)
City of Bennettsville
City of Camden
City of Clinton
Town of Due West
Easley Combined Utilities
Gaffney Board of Public Works
City of Georgetown (Santee Cooper is their source of power)
City of Greenwood
Greer Commission of Public Works
Laurens Commission of Public Works
Town of McCormick
City of Newberry
City of Orangeburg (SCE&G is their source of power)
Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (termed a “joint-action agency” and the
source of power for a consortium of 10 municipally owned electric
utilities)
Town of Prosperity
City of Rock Hill
Santee Cooper (formal name: S.C. Public Service Authority, we’re one
and the same)
City of Seneca
City of Union
City of Westminster
Town of Winnsboro
(The electric landscape if kinda complicated).
—The “only public utility” statement was obviously from the Regional Business Journal, but I was under that impression as well. My question in reply was which of these utilities actually generate their own power. Perhaps S-C is the only public utility that makes power?