Staff Report
Published May 6, 2010
SCANA Corp. reported stronger first-quarter earnings on Thursday, prompted in part by an increased usage of power during the recent cold winter. The utility said it would refund $25 million to customers.
The Cayce-based utility reported consolidated earnings for the first quarter of 2010 of $127 million, or $1.02 per share, compared to $114 million, or 94 cents per share, for the same period of 2009.
“In the first quarter of 2010, our service territory experienced one of the coldest winters in decades and, as a result, we saw significantly higher customer usage compared to last year,” said Jimmy Addison, SCANA senior vice president and CFO. “However, we have proposed a weather normalization mechanism as part of a stipulation recently filed in SCE&G’s pending 2010 electric base rate case. Accordingly, we have deferred $25 million of estimated weather-related revenues from the first quarter of 2010 for refund to customers and have reduced SCANA’s reported earnings by 13 cents per share.”
S.C. Electric & Gas Co. has filed with state regulators to reduce its proposed electric rate increase, which has drawn an unusual level of public outcry. The utility is proposing an increase of about 6%, rather than the more than 9% it originally sought. The S.C. Public Service Commission will consider the request later this month.
In the first quarter, the SCE&G main subsidiary would have generated the same earnings per share of 51 cents, if the $25 million deferral is taken out.
SCANA said it stands by its previous guidance on annual earnings in the range of $2.85 to $3.05 per share.
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