Coastal Business | Water company that serves Georgetown seeks 80 percent rate hike

Coastal Business

COLUMBIA

Rate hike sought

South Carolina regulators say a water and sewer service provider that serves Georgetown and eight other counties is seeking approval for an 80 percent rate increase.

The Office of Regulatory Staff said Wednesday that Carolina Water Service Inc. wants to raise rates from an average of $36 a month for full-service water customers to more than $65. Typical full-service sewer customers would see a smaller increase of about $5 a month to $44.

Carolina Water Service has more than 7,600 water and 11,000 sewer customers in Georgetown, Aiken, Beaufort, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland, Sumter, Williamsburg and York counties.

Regulatory Staff executive director Dukes Scott is encouraging customers to get involved in the hearing that will determine the new rates.

COLUMBIA

Project advances

Efforts to build two nuclear reactors northwest of Columbia won an important victory this week, with a report concluding the project won't take a substantial toll on the environment.

Two federal agencies - Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Army Corps of Engineers - issued their final environmental impact statement Tuesday for the expansion of SCE&G's V.C. Summer nuclear power station in Fairfield County.

"It doesn't say there are no impacts, but in the overall analysis, there no impacts so large they would preclude the NRC from approving the project," NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said.

The NRC could issue licenses for the plant expansion as early as next year. The design for the reactor still needs approval and the NRC must consider the findings of a safety evaluation report before making a decision.

"The bottom line is all those things are going to require the remainder of the year to work through,'' Burnell said. "We won't see a final agency decision on the Summer application until at least the end of the year.''

RALEIGH, N.C.

Deadline extended

Federal tax collectors are postponing deadlines for people impacted by North Carolina's deadly series of tornadoes.

The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it is moving its 2010 tax return deadline to June 30 for people who live or have a business in areas that have been given a federal disaster designation.

The North Carolina Revenue Department has already said it will waive late filing and late payment penalties for people who are unable to file their return or pay their taxes because of the storm. State law prevents the agency from waiving any interest assessed on overdue taxes. The IRS says it will not apply interest on overdue federal taxes.

Taxpayers impacted by the storm should contact the IRS if they receive a federal penalty notice.