BLYTHEWOOD – If you were a member of Fairfield Electric Cooperative for any period between Jan. 1, 2007–Jan. 31, 2020, you may receive an unexpected bill credit or check in late February or March.
A class-action lawsuit was filed in 2017 following the failure of the construction project for two nuclear units at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in Fairfield County. Santee Cooper and SCE&G (now Dominion Energy) were the owners of the project.
The lawsuit argued that consumers should not have to pay for the nearly $9 billion in costs that were sunk into the failed project and essentially lost with nothing to show for them. The cooperative was not a party to the case, but member rights were affected.
Cooperative members who are due more than $50 will receive a check in the mail. Cooperative members who will be paid $50 or less will get a credit on their electricity bill.
The first bill credit or payment members received in 2020 represented about 70% of the amount. This second credit or payment is for the remaining 30%, which is how the court was set up the plan.
Payments were calculated based on how much electricity was purchased during a specific time period through January 31, 2020. Those who only became members for a short amount of time before then didn’t pay much for the nuclear plant’s construction.
The class in the class-action lawsuit included only those people who were members through January 31, 2020. Those who came online with the cooperative afterward did not have charges on their electric bills inside the class period.
Fairfield Electric Cooperative did not perform the calculation. That was between the court and the firm hired to administer the settlement, a firm called Epiq, a global firm in the legal services industry.
If you have any questions regarding the administration of the Settlement, you may contact the Settlement Administrator: Cook v. SCPSA, Class Action Administrator, P.O. Box 3127, Portland, OR 97208-3127; 1-833-947-0894 (Toll-Free [email protected]
