Duke Energy proposes new gas plant to meet load growth

Queen Greene sent her newborn son to live with his godparents last winter. She planned to set the thermostat of her three-bedroom North Carolina home at a chilly 60 degrees to keep her electricity bill low. Greene figured that would be too cold for a baby.

As legislators consider construction of a large natural gas plant to meet South Carolina’s growing energy demand, a consulting company is cautioning against the venture, saying the state-owned Santee Cooper power company has not looked at the matter thoroughly enough.

We’re already projecting eight times the load growth we anticipated just two years ago, said Mike Callahan, Duke Energy’s South Carolina president.