Scoring Big With Reliability

On any given Sunday, Santee Cooper is the utility most likely to keep your lights on and your house humming – by far – compared to those other utilities the media have said are interested in buying us.
How much more reliable are we? Here’s a look at average minutes-without-electricity in 2018 for Santee Cooper customers and customers of these other utilities, as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration:
- Santee Cooper – 21 minutes
- Florida Power & Light (NextEra) – 55 minutes (almost THREE times longer)
- Dominion SC (formerly SCE&G) – 96 minutes (almost FIVE times longer)
- Gulf Power (NextEra) – 124 minutes (over SIX times longer)
- Duke Energy Progress – 144 minutes (almost SEVEN times longer)
- Duke Energy Carolinas – 203 minutes (almost TEN times longer)
That’s the difference between missing the Super Bowl warmups and missing the ENTIRE game, including commercials and the halftime show. And our reliability isn’t confined to Sundays – the EIA data covers the whole year. (It does exclude the impacts of hurricanes and other major weather events, to keep utilities across the country on a level playing field.)
At Santee Cooper we strive for zero outages. But cars hit poles, and lightning strikes – and we work to restore power quickly and safely. The statistics bear this out. In FACT, Santee Cooper ranks #4 in reliability compared to 534 others, including investor-owned utilities and electric cooperatives nationally.
We know, electricity provides things far more important a Super Bowl broadcast. And so when it matters most, Santee Cooper’s power lines deliver. Reliability is our NO. 1 product and a cornerstone of Santee Cooper’s history. You can bet it’s a part of our future.
That’s a FACT.