The judge signed off on the deal, which will provide refunds for nearly all of the utility’s 1.7 million customers. After about 90 days, customers will receive some kind of cash payment. Customers with refunds of less than $25 will receive a credit on their bill.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers will get 15%, or $77m to $78m, of the settlement. Lawyers said the percentage is relatively low in this kind of lawsuit, The State newspaper reported.
The $9bn project to build two new Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the Summer site accumulated $4bn in debt before Santee Cooper pulled out of its minority stake in the in July 2017. The project was shut down before any power was generated because of rising costs and after Santee Cooper had increased rates five times to fund construction.
The finalised deal also requires Santee Cooper to freeze electric rates for four years, which lawyers said could be worth up to $510m.
State lawmakers are still deciding whether to sell the utility or restructure it.
Earlier this month a civil fraud class action lawsuit brought by shareholders against utility Scana and its former top executives over the failure of the Summer project was settled for $192.5m.
The lawsuit was filed in 2017, several months after Scana and junior partner Santee Cooper announced they were abandoning the project.
