Berkeley Electric Cooperative, Inc. will continue with its non-exclusive franchise agreement to maintain electricity to the Town of Seabrook Island, but at a higher franchise fee.
Under the existing contract, the franchise agreement fee is set at 3%, but Seabrook Island can go up to 5%. Berkeley Electric reached out to Seabrook earlier this year about adopting a new franchise agreement.
Town staff began that process and came up with the ordinance presented at the Dec. 13 Seabrook Island Town Council meeting for first reading. Berkeley Electric is the only electric company that services in the town limits of Seabrook Island.
Dominion Energy services some of the areas in the periphery of Johns Island. Since the state’s Public Service Commission has approved the service area maps, Berkeley Electric wanted municipalities to update their franchise agreements to reflect what has been adopted at the state level. Seabrook Island will need an agreement with Dominion Energy as well, even though Dominion Energy doesn’t service the Town of Seabrook Island. Town Administrator Joe Cronin said that he thinks the reason they need the agreement with Dominion Energy is so that both Berkeley Electric and Dominion Energy agree on the service area set by the S.C. Public Service Commission.
Cronin said that the franchise agreement in the new ordinance is pretty much a “boiler plate” with “no significant changes from what we have had for decades with Berkeley Electric.”
The minor revisions that Cronin and Town staff did recommended were:
• Should the Town install electric charging stations, Seabrook would have the ability to have a credit card swipe in order for users to recharge their vehicles.
• The Town will go up to 5% for their franchise agreement payment by Berkeley Electric.
Cronin also explained that the Town will start collecting the 5% fee in January 2023, but they wouldn’t receive the revenue until 2024 because it will be based on what was collected in 2023. The check in 2023 will be based on what was collected in 2022, which was at 3%. Cronin reiterated that this agreement is “nonexclusive” meaning that it is not limited to Berkeley Electric, however Dominion Energy would have to discuss adding infrastructure with Berkeley if they were to offer electric on the island as well. “By adopting that map, Dominion (Energy) is saying ‘we recognize it isn’t worth our time, money and effort to go into this area because we wouldn’t get the return on it,’” Cronin said. “If Dominion (Energy) were to offer electricity here, that would be something they would both have to agree to with the Town’s franchise agreements.”
This agreement with Berkeley Electric pertains to Seabrook Island town limits only and what is in the public right of ways. Everything inside the gate is private. SIPOA owns the property and therefore they pay for the private electric service inside the gates. In other words, Seabrook Island Town is not involved in the electric service inside the gates – they only deal with the service in town limits. Berkeley Electric owns the electric infrastructure built on the island.
The next step will be for the ordinance to go for second reading and then a public hearing after the first of the year.