GOOSE CREEK, S.C. –Goose Creek’s longest-serving mayor and the city’s current one are joining forces to support the city in establishing its own electric utility system.
On Thursday, Empower Goose Creek released a video featuring former Goose Creek mayor, Michael Heitzler, and current mayor, Greg Habib, who are encouraging voters to say ‘yes’ to an upcoming referendum that would allow the city to get into the electricity business.
“We are here together to help you empower Goose Creek by voting ‘yes’ on Dec. 3 for our referendum to establish an electric utility,” Goose Creek mayor Greg Habib says in the video. “Approval of this referendum will provide more than a million dollars in new revenue for the city of Goose Creek.”
The referendum, which can also be viewed on this sample ballot, reads as follows:
Shall the City Council of the City of Goose Creek, as the governing body of the City of Goose Creek, South Carolina, be authorized to acquire by initial construction or purchase, and thereafter establish, improve, operate and maintain an electric utility system to furnish electric power?
-Yes, In favor of the question
-No, Opposed to the question
The city’s move to get into the electricity business comes in an effort to save Century Aluminum, a major employer in Goose Creek, from permanently shutting down.
[SEE ALSO: New Agreement Saves 300 Century Aluminum Jobs, Keeps Facility Operating At 50 Percent]
Century Aluminum officials say they’ve had to slash hundreds of jobs because they are being forced to pay power prices by Santee Cooper that are nearly twice the market rate.
A ‘yes’ vote in the upcoming referendum, city leaders say, will allow the city to create an electric utility to service only Mt. Holly’s aluminum plant and property. This will enable Mt. Holly to go back to full workforce capacity by paying a fair market price for power to the Goose Creek Municipal Electric Utility.
A vote ‘yes’ would also result in 300 new jobs, $1 million in new money per year for police, fire and recreation as well as $1 billion per year for the tri-county economy, city leaders claim.
“Safe neighborhoods are not free. Fire, police, the personnel, the equipment, it costs dollars, and you have to have a revenue stream for that. Empowering Goose Creek will provide that stream without lifting our local taxes,” former Goose Creek mayor, Michael Heitzler, says in the video.
[SEE ALSO: Santee Cooper: Goose Creek Entering into the Electric Business is Unlawful]
Meanwhile, Santee Cooper representatives oppose the referendum and argue that what Goose Creek leaders are trying to do is illegal.
“Becoming an electric utility is not a prospect to be taken lightly,” says Ray Pinson who manages Local Government and Community Relations activities for Santee Cooper. “It comes with great liability to your citizens in terms of reporting penalties, regional transmission constraints, lack of your own generation sources, lack of your own transmission facilities, and a host of other legal complications that have been relayed to you already.”
To read Santee Cooper’s full stance on the referendum, click here.
To learn more on the city’s stance on the referendum, visit www.empowergoosecreek.com.
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