I get the feeling that I can be smart with my money my whole life, and in the end I will end up eating out of a can, if I’m lucky, because of insurance, medical bills, and utility rates.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
quote:
Originally posted by HooliganMaybe the state legislature will bring up deregulation of the electric monopolies and allow us to purchase our electricity on the open market. They do it with natural gas. Why not electricity.
Be careful what you wish for.
Who didn’t see this coming???
F’em
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
quote:
Originally posted by Area 51Who didn’t see this coming???
it’s the news medias job to sell papers, sensationalize a story and twist the facts and that’s what you get
the facts are out there if one wants to understand what occurred
a few main points with a ton of detail behind them:
- The Project, SCE&G and Santee combined, negotiated a 100% fixed price guarantee with Westinghouse, that was done to protect customers, stockholders and the company from
price creep - Westinghouse declared bankruptcy, that voided the guarantee
- who would have ever thought that a company with the great track record that Westinghouse had would go bankrupt?
- in bankruptcy the Project had access to Westinghouse records that they previously didn’t have access to, it was determined that their price estimate to complete the plants was off by 300% and their time line was off by 2-3 years, hmmm!!!
- to further protect everyone the Project negotiated a parental guarantee with Toshiba, it was a formula based on projected price increases
- The Project was due about $1.7 billion under the formula, the negotiated settlement was $2.2 billion, $500 million more
- Santee decided to drop out and that made it impossible for SCE&G to continue, SCE&G owns 55%, Santee 45%
there are plenty more facts out there if anyone wants the truth, or one can push the “easy” button and listen to the media
executive bonuses are based off of stock performance, earnings and other targeted objectives, through 2016 none of that was in question, the Westinghouse bankruptcy occurred in March 2017
Pioneer 197SF
I don’t work for a utility company that has a monopoly, If our CEO put our company in jeopardy to lose $9,000,000,000 and pass the cost on to our customers, our customers would say blank you and go buy our services elsewhere. 700,000 +/- customers don’t have that option. I do appreciate your input…
quote:Just curious. How would this work? Doesn't SCANA own the grid (poles, underground cables, etc) that get power to the house? Would each competitor need to run it's own wire?
Originally posted by HooliganMaybe the state legislature will bring up deregulation of the electric monopolies and allow us to purchase our electricity on the open market. They do it with natural gas. Why not electricity.
quote:
Originally posted by Blueskyguyquote:
Originally posted by Area 51Who didn’t see this coming???
it’s the news medias job to sell papers, sensationalize a story and twist the facts and that’s what you get
the facts are out there if one wants to understand what occurred
a few main points with a ton of detail behind them:
- The Project, SCE&G and Santee combined, negotiated a 100% fixed price guarantee with Westinghouse, that was done to protect customers, stockholders and the company from
price creep- Westinghouse declared bankruptcy, that voided the guarantee
- who would have ever thought that a company with the great track record that Westinghouse had would go bankrupt?
- in bankruptcy the Project had access to Westinghouse records that they previously didn’t have access to, it was determined that their price estimate to complete the plants was off by 300% and their time line was off by 2-3 years, hmmm!!!
- to further protect everyone the Project negotiated a parental guarantee with Toshiba, it was a formula based on projected price increases
- The Project was due about $1.7 billion under the formula, the negotiated settlement was $2.2 billion, $500 million more
- Santee decided to drop out and that made it impossible for SCE&G to continue, SCE&G owns 55%, Santee 45%
there are plenty more facts out there if anyone wants the truth, or one can push the “easy” button and listen to the media
executive bonuses are based off of stock performance, earnings and other targeted objectives, through 2016 none
And don’t get me started on the gas WNA nonsense. This surge in revenue last year, and executive bonuses has been brought up plenty way before this incident.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
I like and respect you blueskyguy and you often provide good advice and information here but, not many here are going to have anything but bad feelings towards SCANA. I believe there have been 14 rate hikes in the last 10 years. We pay the highest rates in the Southeast and 3rd highest in the country. As for execs getting bonuses based on company performance, those “bonuses” still come at the expense of every customer forced to use SCANA for their electric power provider. I am royally pissed and if I had ANY other viable option, I’d go elsewhere.
Oh, and I do have a non-nuclear related question you may or may not be able to answer. I found the energy store and bought some LED light bulbs (getting a tiny fraction of my money back) but, why is it that SCANA will only allow you to buy 15 per year? They say they want customers to have more energy efficient homes so why limit the #?
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”, but really, who cares?
You also have to look at both parties point of views.
-Westinghouse was never meant to be an EPC company. They were only supposed to handle design and AP1000 procurement. Westinghouse bought the constructor when they failed to comply. Being that Westinghouse has never been a construction company, they did not have the personnel to replace the current management(which was the issue all along) so they stayed and nothing got fixed.
-NND hasnt been in the US in 30 years. Therefor there were almost no material suppliers for nuclear. That affects several things, for example, the AP1000 was primarily built with modules. The few modules suppliers that were out there, had very few nuclear certified welders. When VCS would receive modules, all welds would have to have paper trails for material, filler material, welder certs, etc. These were missing on many modules so VCS had to grind out perfectly good weld and reweld them. This obviosuly takes an enormous about of time creating work packages and data sheets to perform work that should have already been completed.
-There were new NRC regulations that were put into place because of fukushima. This caused the design to change and had a domino effect with procurement, inspections, and construction.
my point is, there are many facts to both sides of the story. There is no one finger to point with and make blame. From my experience, the biggest downfall of the project, was improper management and the lack of accountability.
quote:
Originally posted by Blueskyguyquote:
Originally posted by Area 51Who didn’t see this coming???
<hr height=
Who was in charge of checking up on the subcontractor? While the stock was rising and the bonuses were being paid, who was monitoring the project from SCANA/SCEG? There were no indications of anything being that far behind budget until March of 2017?
quote:
Originally posted by skinneejquote:Just curious. How would this work? Doesn't SCANA own the grid (poles, underground cables, etc) that get power to the house? Would each competitor need to run it's own wire?
Originally posted by HooliganMaybe the state legislature will bring up deregulation of the electric monopolies and allow us to purchase our electricity on the open market. They do it with natural gas. Why not electricity.
The equipment from the generator to the house is owned by SCE&G (vertically integrated). The component parts would be split into separate companies: typically generation, transmission and distribution (LDC). The buyer would choose their electric supplier. The supplier then buys access to the transmission and distribution. You would get either one bill with multiple charges like a phone bill, or you would be billed from each entity. Typically the energy supplier contracts with the LDC for billing services so you get one bill.
Pioneer 197SF
quote:Okay. Interesting... So, they have to meter you at your house to find your consumption and then "put that much in" to the grid upstream?
Originally posted by Blueskyguyquote:
Originally posted by skinneejquote:Just curious. How would this work? Doesn't SCANA own the grid (poles, underground cables, etc) that get power to the house? Would each competitor need to run it's own wire?
Originally posted by HooliganMaybe the state legislature will bring up deregulation of the electric monopolies and allow us to purchase our electricity on the open market. They do it with natural gas. Why not electricity.
The equipment from the generator to the house is owned by SCE&G (vertically integrated). The component parts would be split into separate companies: typically generation, transmission and distribution (LDC). The buyer would choose their electric supplier. The supplier then buys access to the transmission and distribution. You would get either one bill with multiple charges like a phone bill, or you would be billed from each entity. Typically the energy supplier contracts with the LDC for billing services so you get one bill.
Pioneer 197SF
quote:
Originally posted by Geronimoquote:
Originally posted by Blueskyguyquote:
Originally posted by Area 51Who didn’t see this coming???
it’s the news medias job to sell papers, sensationalize a story and twist the facts and that’s what you get
the facts are out there if one wants to understand what occurred
a few main points with a ton of detail behind them:
- The Project, SCE&G and Santee combined, negotiated a 100% fixed price guarantee with Westinghouse, that was done to protect customers, stockholders and the company from
price creep- Westinghouse declared bankruptcy, that voided the guarantee
- who would have ever thought that a company with the great track record that Westinghouse had would go bankrupt?
- in bankruptcy the Project had access to Westinghouse records that they previously didn’t have access to, it was determined that their price estimate to complete the plants was off by 300% and their time line was off by 2-3 years, hmmm!!!
- to further protect everyone the Project negotiated a parental guarantee with Toshiba, it was a formula based on projected price increases
- The Project was due about $1.7 billion under the formula, the negotiated settlement was $2.2 billion, $500 million more
- Santee decided to drop out and that made it impossible for SCE&G to continue, SCE&G owns 55%, Santee 45%
there are plenty more facts out there if anyone wants the truth, or one
quote:
Originally posted by Blueskyguyquote:
Originally posted by Geronimoquote:
Originally posted by Blueskyguyquote:
Originally posted by Area 51Who didn’t see this coming???
it’s the news medias job to sell papers, sensationalize a story and twist the facts and that’s what you get
the facts are out there if one wants to understand what occurred
a few main points with a ton of detail behind them:
- The Project, SCE&G and Santee combined, negotiated a 100% fixed price guarantee with Westinghouse, that was done to protect customers, stockholders and the company from
price creep- Westinghouse declared bankruptcy, that voided the guarantee
- who would have ever thought that a company with the great track record that Westinghouse had would go bankrupt?
- in bankruptcy the Project had access to Westinghouse records that they previously didn’t have access to, it was determined that their price estimate to complete the plants was off by 300% and their time line was off by 2-3 years, hmmm!!!
- to further protect everyone the Project negotiated a parental guarantee with Toshiba, it was a formula based on projected price increases
- The Project was due about $1.7 billion under the formula, the negotiated settlement was $2.2 billion, $500 million more
- Santee decid
quote:
Originally posted by skinneejquote:Okay. Interesting... So, they have to meter you at your house to find your consumption and then "put that much in" to the grid upstream?
Originally posted by Blueskyguyquote:
Originally posted by skinneejquote:Just curious. How would this work? Doesn't SCANA own the grid (poles, underground cables, etc) that get power to the house? Would each competitor need to run it's own wire?
Originally posted by HooliganMaybe the state legislature will bring up deregulation of the electric monopolies and allow us to purchase our electricity on the open market. They do it with natural gas. Why not electricity.
The equipment from the generator to the house is owned by SCE&G (vertically integrated). The component parts would be split into separate companies: typically generation, transmission and distribution (LDC). The buyer would choose their electric supplier. The supplier then buys access to the transmission and distribution. You would get either one bill with multiple charges like a phone bill, or you would be billed from each entity. Typically the energy supplier contracts with the LDC for billing services so you get one bill.
Pioneer 197SF
That’s "k
quote:
Originally posted by GeronimoAnd don’t get me started on the gas WNA nonsense. This surge in revenue last year, and executive bonuses has been brought up plenty way before this incident.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 JohnsonWilderness Ride 115
Gas WNA is interesting and quite complicated. Yes everyone complains when the weather is milder than normal and the WNA adjustment is positive. But they seem to forget when the weather is colder than average and the WNA is negative.
The goal of WNA is to have the cost be neutral over a period of time. The purpose of WNA is to flatten our cost so there are not crazy swings in the annual gas price adjustment. Without WNA the gas rates would swing up and down annually, and they would be big changes.
This is complicated. SCE&G must reserve capacity on the pipeline 24/7/365. It’s like leasing a lane on the interstate. If you don’t own the lane you can’t drive your car unless you sub-lease from someone that owns the lane (sub-leasing on a cold day is super expensive if it’s even available). Right now the pipeline is fully subscribed, thus you can’t drive without sub-leasing. SCE&G must plan for the cold day in order to have enough capacity (space) on the pipeline to move the gas to serve customers. Leasing that space is expensive.
SCE&G also has to subscribe to certain amounts (volumes) of gas. They have to pay for both of these whether they are used on not.
On the mild days there are not enough gas sales (revenue) to cover all the fixed costs so the WNA adjustment is positive. On the cold days there is excess revenue and the WNA is negative.
That is the simple explanation. A google search will provide you tons of reading on this. It’s all about cost stabilization for the customer and SCE&G.
Pioneer 197SF
You’ll have to show me one of those negative WNA bills, aka unicorn.
Yes, it does fluctuate based on the weather, but I have never seen it go negative. We would have to have a record cold month for that. Here is a snap shot of my Dec. rate over the past 3 years and the average temp. Base rate between .95-1.10.
2014- 1.23 @ 52*
2015- 1.54 @ 58*
2016- 1.33 @ 55*
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
quote:
Originally posted by DFreedomI like and respect you blueskyguy and you often provide good advice and information here but, not many here are going to have anything but bad feelings towards SCANA. I believe there have been 14 rate hikes in the last 10 years. We pay the highest rates in the Southeast and 3rd highest in the country. As for execs getting bonuses based on company performance, those “bonuses” still come at the expense of every customer forced to use SCANA for their electric power provider. I am royally pissed and if I had ANY other viable option, I’d go elsewhere.
Oh, and I do have a non-nuclear related question you may or may not be able to answer. I found the energy store and bought some LED light bulbs (getting a tiny fraction of my money back) but, why is it that SCANA will only allow you to buy 15 per year? They say they want customers to have more energy efficient homes so why limit the #?
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”, but really, who cares?
I understand the bad feelings on this subject. My only goal is to provide facts so folks can make informed conclusions. Frankly, there are plenty of folks (politicians, special interest groups, Monday morning quarterbacks, etc) that are acting like children because they don’t know or don’t care to know the facts, or are just ignoring them.
Yes there have been rate hikes, all done under the BLRA law. The hikes covered the interest expense of construction as stated in the law passed by the SC Legislature. Yes the rates are high.
Utility rates have always been and will always be cyclical. High today and low tomorrow. It’s because rates are established off of capital investment. When generation is needed power plants are built, when the system needs to be expanded transmission and distribution is bui