Regulatory staff duties and responsibilities; providing assistance to commission; Ethics and Administrative Procedures Act workshop attendance.
S.C. Code Ann. § 58-4-50
in effect(A) It is the duty and responsibility of the regulatory staff to: (1) when considered necessary by the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff and in the public interest, review, investigate, and make appropriate recommendations to the commission with respect to the rates charged or proposed to be charged by any public utility; (2) when considered necessary by the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff and in the public interest, make inspections, audits, and examinations of public utilities regarding matters within the jurisdiction of the commission. The regulatory staff has sole responsibility for this duty but shall also make such inspections, audits, or examinations of public utilities as requested by the commission; (3) when considered necessary by the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff and in the public interest, review, investigate, and make appropriate recommendations to the commission with respect to the service furnished or proposed to be furnished by any public utility; (4) represent the public interest in commission proceedings, hearings, rulemakings, adjudications, arbitrations, and other regulatory matters unless the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff chooses to opt out as a participant under the provisions of item 10; (5) investigate complaints affecting the public interest generally, including those which are directed to the commission, commissioners, or commission employees, and where appropriate, make recommendations to the commission with respect to these complaints; (6) upon request by the commission, make studies and recommendations to the commission with respect to standards, regulations, practices, or service of any public utility pursuant to the provisions of this title; (7) make recommendations to the commission with respect to standards, regulations, practices, or service of any public utility pursuant to the provisions of this title; (8) when considered necessary by the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff and in the public interest, provide legal representation of the public interest before state courts, federal regulatory agencies, and federal courts in proceedings that could affect the rates or service of any public utility; (9) to serve as a facilitator or otherwise act directly or indirectly to resolve disputes and issues involving matters within the jurisdiction of the commission. In accordance with the mission of the Office of Regulatory Staff as provided for in Section 58-4-10 and in the context of settlement negotiations, the Office of Regulatory Staff shall consider any applicable requirements set out for the Public Service Commission pursuant to Section 58-3-140; (10) when considered appropriate by the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff and not adverse to the public interest, choose to not participate in any commission proceeding; (11) when considered necessary by the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff and in the public interest, educate the public on matters affecting public utilities which are of special interest to consumers; and (12) when considered necessary by the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff and in the public interest, make inspections, audits, and examination of the compliance by electric cooperatives with the provisions of law specified in Section 33-49-150. (B) Subject to the provisions of Section 58-3-260 and, upon request, the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff must employ the resources of the regulatory staff to furnish to the commission, or its members, such information and reports or conduct such investigations and provide other assistance as may reasonably be required in order to supervise and control the public utilities of the State and to carry out the laws providing for their regulation. (C) Each year, the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff and the regulatory staff employees must attend a workshop of at least six contact hours concerning ethics and the Administrative Procedures Act. This workshop must be developed with input from the review committee. Editor's Note 2025 Act No. 41, SECTION 1, provides as follows: "SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the 'South Carolina Energy Security Act.' " 2025 Act No. 41, SECTION 33, provides as follows: "SECTION 33. (A) To foster economic development and future jobs in this State resulting from the supply chains associated with the same while supporting the significant and growing energy and capacity needs of the State, enhance grid resiliency, and maintain reliability, the General Assembly finds that the State of South Carolina should take steps necessary to encourage the development of a diverse mix of long-lead, clean generation resources that may include nuclear and advanced nuclear, biomass as defined in Section 12-63-20(B)(2) of the S.C. Code, hydrogen-capable resources, fusion energy, and other technologies, and should preserve the option of efficiency development of such long-lead resources with timely actions to establish or maintain eligibility for or capture available tax or other financial incentives or address operational needs. "(B) For an electrical utility to capture available tax or other financial or operational incentives for South Carolina ratepayers in a timely manner, the commission may find that actions by an electrical utility in pursuit of the directives in Section 58-37-35(A) are in the public interest, provided that the commission determines that such proposed actions are in the public interest and reasonably balance economic development and industry retention benefits, capacity expansion benefits, resource adequacy and diversification and potential risks, costs, and benefits to ratepayers and otherwise comply with all other legal requirements applicable to the electrical utility's proposed action. For the South Carolina Public Service Authority, the Office of Regulatory Staff and the Public Service Authority's board of directors shall apply the same principles described in this subsection in evaluating and approving actions proposed by the management of the Public Service Authority to achieve the objectives of this section." 2025 Act No. 41, SECTION 41, provides as follows: "SECTION 41. (A) Five years after the effective date of this act, the Office of the Regulatory Staff shall prepare a report, to be filed with the Public Utilities Review Committee and the General Assembly, to address the implementation of Article 24, Chapter 27, Title 58 as it relates to the following areas: "(1) assessing the functioning of the procedures established by section with recommendation for any changes required to ensure their efficient functioning, to promote regulatory efficiency, and to make further the establishment of just, reasonable, and fair rates; "(2) assessing the effect of rates on ratepayers of all classes; "(3) assessing the reliability of the electric system and whether investments made by electric utilities increased reliability compared to any change in electric utility rates experienced by ratepayers within the same timeframe; and "(4) any other information requested by the General Assembly to be included within the report. "(B) The Office of Regulatory Staff may engage a qualified, independent third party to assist in preparation of the report. "(C) All expenses and charges incurred by the Office of Regulatory Staff in the performance of its duties within this section may be defrayed by assessments made by the Comptroller General against the regulated electrical utilities regulated and based upon twenty-five percent of the gross revenues collected by such electrical utilities from their business done wholly within this State in the manner set out in Section 58-4-60 for other corporations." 2025 Act No. 41, SECTION 42, provides as follows: "SECTION 42. Upon passage of this act, Dominion Energy shall evaluate the process for converting the Wateree Generating Station from coal-fired generation to biomass-fired generation. Biomass-fired generation includes, but is not limited to, generation from the firing of wood pellets and wood chips. Dominion Energy must make a report concerning the conversion process to the Public Service Commission and General Assembly by no later than January 13, 2026." 2019 Act No. 56, SECTION 16, provides as follows: "SECTION 16. Where the provisions of new or revised 1976 Code sections or subsections contained in this act conflict with provisions of the bylaws of an electric cooperative, the provisions of this act control and the cooperative, as permitted by Section 33-49-280, shall amend and conform its bylaw provisions accordingly." Effect of Amendment 2019 Act No. 56, SECTION 13, in (A), added (12). 2025 Act No. 41, SECTION 43, in (A)(9), added the last sentence.
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t58c004.phpFetched: 10/17/2026