The Public Service Commission of South Carolina voted to approve the merger between Dominion Energy, Inc. and SCANA Corporation, Friday, for $14.6 billion. SCANA is the Cayce-based parent company for South Carolina Electric and Gas.

Conditions of the merger are to be outlined later as part of a written order that is to be issued by Dec. 21. The PSC also approved a customer benefits plan that reduces customer bills on an average of more than $20-a-month.

Dominion also offered in the deal to absorb most of the debt for two nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer plant that SCANA abandoned.  That left  ratepayers on the hook for billions of dollars. The PSC voted to allow the deal Friday.

Said the companies:

“Dominion Energy and SCANA are pleased with today’s action of the Public Service Commission of South Carolina after an open, thorough and inclusive public process. We look forward to reviewing an order when it’s issued.”

Said Thomas F. Farrell, II, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dominion Energy:

“Dominion Energy is encouraged by the Commission’s vote and awaits an order to review prior to making a final decision to close the merger with SCANA. We are pleased with the opportunity to increase our presence in communities served by SCANA, expand our involvement in charitable giving and implement an EnergyShare-like program in South Carolina to assist low-income, elderly, disabled and veteran customers.”

Said SCANA CEO Jimmy Addison:

“We are pleased that today’s decision brings us one step closer to a final resolution and the certainty that stakeholders have been hoping for. We look forward to reviewing the details of the Commission’s final written order when it is issued.”

About Dominion Energy
Nearly 6 million customers in 19 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy, headquartered in Richmond, Va. The company is committed to sustainable, reliable, affordable, and safe energy and is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy with nearly $80 billion of assets providing electric generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas storage, transmission, distribution, and import/export services. As one of the nation’s leading solar operators, the company intends to reduce its carbon intensity 50 percent by 2030. Through its Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation, as well as EnergyShare and other programs, Dominion Energy plans to contribute more than $30 million in 2018 to community causes throughout its footprint and beyond. Read about Dominion Energy and visit us on Facebook or Twitter.

About SCANA
SCANA Corporation, headquartered in Cayce, S.C., is an energy-based holding company principally engaged, through subsidiaries, in electric and natural gas utility operations and other energy-related businesses. Information about SCANA and its businesses is available on the company’s website at www.scana.com.

SOURCE Dominion Energy