Santee Cooper launches cost-managing program

Santee Cooper recently launched a campaign, called Power Down, aimed at helping customers manage the rising cost of electricity.

“We want to share with them what we are doing and what we have done to keep our costs as low as we can,” Laura Varn, spokeswoman for the company, said. “We also want to help customers so that they can better manage their power bills in the coming months by giving them very practical, easy tips that do make a difference on their power bill.”

The fuel charge is the portion of the monthly bill directly tied to the cost of coal, or other fuel sources used to produce the electricity.

According to the Santee Cooper Green — Power Down Web site, customers can schedule an appoint for an energy audit and someone from the company will come out to explain ways to make the home more energy efficient.

During the course of the past year, the cost the utility company pays for coal has roughly tripled, Varn said.

But despite the rate increase, she said, it still remains the most affordable fuel source for Santee Cooper.

“When you look at the (Santee Cooper) budget, there is only 8 percent of it that we can essentially control,” she said.

That percentage has been exhausted lately by a variety of measures the company has taken to keep cost as low as possible for as long as possible, Varn said.

“A lot of it has to do with global issues,” she said. “China is putting on about 32 power plants per week, India is at one power plant per week. And a lot of the coal they are getting is from Appalachia, which is where we get our coal.”

Conservation is key to keeping energy costs down for South Carolinians, said Lonnie Carter, CEO of Santee Cooper, on the company Web site.

Varn agreed, saying the company will do everything it can in the meantime to keep costs low while customers learn to conserve.

“We feel it’s important to be very helpful to customers — to help them manage their bill during these tough economic times,” she said.