The agreement will have the companies evenly split the money made from selling major nuclear equipment that has not been installed, according to the settlement announced Monday.
Santee Cooper will get 90% of the proceeds of all equipment that has been installed, and two-thirds of the profits from selling other equipment specific to nuclear projects, the agreement said.
Santee Cooper keeps all the remaining equipment, while the deal says Westinghouse will market and sell the equipment for up to five years.
The money the state-owned utility makes will go toward reducing billions of dollars of debt that Santee Cooper amassed during the construction of the two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear plants.
The $9bn project 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.
Santee Cooper has a 45% stake in the plants planned for a site north of Columbia. South Carolina Electric & Gas, which was since bought out by Dominion Energy of Virginia, had the majority stake and ran the project.
The money made from selling the equipment will also go into a rate freeze for customers, Santee Cooper said in a statement.
