Electricity is supposed to be the one utility bill nobody thinks about. For Santee Cooper customers in Horry, Georgetown and Berkeley counties, that’s about to change twice — once in 2027, and again in 2028.
South Carolina’s state-owned power provider is asking its board to approve back-to-back base rate increases, and the public comment window that will shape that decision is closing fast: written comments are due July 30, with oral comments accepted at hearings through August 31 (Santee Cooper, 2026). Buried in the rate mechanics is a bigger question than what residents will owe next February. It’s a question about leverage — between a state utility answering to its board, residential customers who use a sliver of the system’s total load, and the data centers whose growth is reshaping the whole rate structure. In other words: who actually has the power now?
The Numbers Behind the Hike
Santee Cooper’s board received the proposal on May 1, calling for an average 3.3% increase across all retail customer classes in 2027, followed by another 3.1% average increase in 2028 (Santee Cooper, 2026). Those averages hide a lopsided split. Residential customers would see the steepest jump — 4.7% in 2027 and 4.6% in 2028 — while commercial customers face 2.9% both years and industrial customers see the smallest bumps, 2.6% and 2.1% (Santee Cooper, 2026; WCBD News 2, 2026). Santee Cooper frames the residential increase as modest in dollar terms, roughly 20 cents a day, or about $6.60 a month (Santee Cooper, 2026). But percentage averages obscure a pattern worth naming: the customer class with the least ability to negotiate its rate is absorbing the largest proportional hit.
The Demand Charge Do-Over
Some of this is damage control. Last year’s residential “demand charge” — an $8-per-kilowatt penalty tied to a customer’s single highest-usage hour during peak windows — drew enough backlash that Santee Cooper is now proposing to soften it (Coastal Conservation League, 2026). Under the new “Balanced Demand Billing” model, that peak-hour charge would be averaged across four peak periods a month instead of penalizing one bad hour, such as a hot afternoon when the AC and the dryer run at once (Santee Cooper, 2026). It’s a real concession to customer frustration. But it arrives alongside a separate increase to the fixed monthly service charge — from $20 to $21 in 2027, and $22 in 2028 — a flat fee that, unlike the demand charge, can’t be reduced through conservation. For comparison, Dominion Energy’s fixed monthly charge sits at $11, roughly half (Coastal Conservation League, 2026).
Data Centers and the Cost-Shifting Fight
The rate hikes don’t exist in isolation from the boom reshaping South Carolina’s grid. In 2025, Santee Cooper adopted a separate, “experimental” large-load rate aimed at data centers and other massive electricity users requiring 50 megawatts or more — enough to power roughly 25,000 homes (SC Daily Gazette, 2025). Those customers must now sign 15-year contracts and ramp to full capacity within three years, with the stated goal of keeping the cost of new generation and transmission infrastructure off everyone else’s bill (Latitude Media, 2025). Utility officials have projected that large-load demand, driven heavily by data centers, could add up to 1,000 megawatts of new load by 2030 — a scale one Santee Cooper executive called significant for a system this size (SC Daily Gazette, 2025). Whether that cost-shifting protection actually works is still contested: Santee Cooper and the state’s electric cooperatives have publicly disagreed over which customers should benefit when a large industrial user negotiates a lower rate, with tens of millions of dollars at stake (SC Daily Gazette, 2026).
Where Horry County Fits In
Santee Cooper serves roughly 200,000 direct customers across Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry counties (SC Daily Gazette, 2026), which puts Horry County ratepayers squarely inside this decision rather than on its edges. Hearings relevant to Grand Strand residents include a July 28 session at the Waccamaw Neck Library Auditorium, alongside meetings at Santee Cooper’s headquarters and HG office through August 31 (Coastal Conservation League, 2026). Unlike a city council vote, this process doesn’t require residents to show up in person to be heard — written comments carry equal weight and are accepted through July 30.
So, Who Has the Power?
Formally, the answer is simple: Santee Cooper’s board, which is expected to receive final staff recommendations on September 29 and vote on October 30, holds the statutory authority to set rates (Berkeley Observer, 2026). Practically, the picture is more contested. Data centers, by virtue of the growth they represent, have real negotiating leverage — enough that the utility built an entirely separate rate class to manage them. Residents have something narrower: a monthlong comment window and a handful of hearings, one of which lands in Horry County. It’s not equal footing, but it is real input, and it closes soon.
Further Reading
- Santee Cooper, “2026 Rate Study” — https://www.santeecooper.com/rates/rate-study/
- Santee Cooper, “Proposed Residential Rate Changes” — https://www.santeecooper.com/rates/rate-study/residential/
- WCBD News 2, “Santee Cooper proposes rate changes; opens public comment period” — https://www.counton2.com/news/local-news/santee-cooper-proposes-rate-changes-opens-public-comment-period/
- SC Daily Gazette, “SC’s state-owned utility enacts higher rates for data centers, large users” — https://scdailygazette.com/2025/04/25/sc-power-company-enacts-higher-rates-for-data-centers-large-users/
- SC Daily Gazette, “Santee Cooper, cooperatives squabble over data center power bill and whose customers should pay” — https://scdailygazette.com/2025/05/23/santee-cooper-cooperatives-squabble-over-data-center-power-bill-and-whose-customers-should-pay/
- Latitude Media, “Meta is using a familiar energy strategy for its newest AI data center” — https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/meta-is-using-a-familiar-energy-strategy-for-its-newest-ai-data-center/
- The Berkeley Observer, “Santee Cooper Unveils Rate Hike Plan, Invites Customers to Weigh In” — https://berkeleyobserver.com/2026/05/02/santee-cooper-unveils-rate-hike-plan-invites-customers-to-weigh-in/
