Government

Goose Creek Voters Overwhelmingly Say ‘Yes’ To City Creating Own Power Company

by Nikki Gaskins Campbell
Pictured: Goose Creek City Hall

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. – On Dec. 3, Goose Creek voters overwhelmingly said ‘yes’ to a referendum that will allow the city of Goose Creek to create its own power company.

The referendum passed with 1,177 city residents (69.15%) voting for the measure and 525 voters (30.85%) opposing the effort. [SEE UNOFFICIAL RESULTS HERE.]

Out of the more than 24,000 registered voters in Goose Creek, a little more than seven percent showed up at the polls, according to Berkeley County’s Voter Registration and Elections.

Despite the low voter turnout, city leaders celebrated the victory Tuesday night at Vinny’s Pizza on St. James Avenue.

“We’re very happy, proud and thankful for everybody that went out to vote and believes in what we’re trying to do to empower our city, to move our city forward and create a better day for our city,” Mayor Greg Habib said.

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. According to Century Aluminum, Santee Cooper’s rising cost of power has left their future in the city uncertain. Approval of the city’s referendum aims to change that, however. The referendum will allow the city to create its own electric company in order to supply power to Century Aluminum at a lower cost.

Representatives with Century Aluminum joined city leaders in celebrating the referendum’s passing Tuesday night.

“On behalf of all the employees at Mt. Holly, we want to say ‘thank you’ to the residents of Goose Creek. This gives us an opportunity to attract, retain 300 additional jobs. We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with the city of Goose Creek,” said Marvin Dickerson, a plant manager with Century Aluminum.

Now that the referendum has passed, it will allow the city to enter into a binding purchased power utility agreement with Century Aluminum for an agreed-upon amount of time to purchase the electricity. The rate paid by the company is anticipated to cover the cost of the purchased power plus all overhead, maintenance, capital, transmission and other expenses incurred by the city.

While city leaders say the creation of their own power company won’t cost taxpayers, it could result in a legal fight between the city and Santee Cooper, which currently supplies power to Century’s plant. Santee Cooper maintains that the city’s move to get into the power business is illegal.

“Becoming an electric utility is not a prospect to be taken lightly,” said 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.”

The city of Goose Creek would not be the first municipality in the Palmetto State to jump into the electric business. According to the Municipal Association of South Carolina, there are currently 21 municipal electric utilities in the state. For the first time in decades, Goose Creek will now join the list.

The votes from the referendum will be formally certified by the election commission on Dec. 5, 2019 in Moncks Corner.

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