Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 58 > Chapter 33 - Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection

• AFUDC: means the allowance for funds used during construction of a plant calculated according to regulatory accounting principles. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• application: means an application for a base load review order under the terms of this article. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Base load review order: means an order issued by the commission pursuant to § 58-33-270 establishing that if a plant is constructed in accordance with an approved construction schedule, approved capital costs estimates, and approved projections of in-service expenses, as defined herein, the plant is considered to be used and useful for utility purposes such that its capital costs are prudent utility costs and are properly included in rates. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• certificate: means a certificate of environmental compatibility and public convenience and necessity. See South Carolina Code 58-33-20
• Combined application: means a base load review application which is combined with an application for a certificate under the Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection Act, or which involves a plant located outside of the State of South Carolina, and at the utility's option may be combined with an application for new electric rates under § 58-27-860. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Combined proceeding: means a proceeding to consider all aspects of a combined application. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• commence to construct: means any clearing of land, excavation, or other action that would adversely affect the natural environment of the site or route of a major utility facility, but does not include surveying or changes needed for temporary use of sites or routes for nonutility purposes, or uses in securing geological data, including necessary borings to ascertain foundation conditions. See South Carolina Code 58-33-20
• commission: means Public Service Commission. See South Carolina Code 58-33-20
• Construction work in progress: means capital costs as defined above associated with a base load plant which have been incurred but have not been included in the utility's plant-in-service. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• cost of capital: means the utility's average cost of debt and equity capital:
  
  (a) incorporating the return on equity;
  
  (b) incorporating the utility's current weighted average cost of debt;
  
  (c) weighting (a) and (b) according to the utility's capital structure for ratemaking purposes, as established in the order in the utility's last general rate proceeding, updated to reflect the utility's current levels of debt and equity capital; and
  
  (d) adjusting the result for the effect of income taxes. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 48-2-20
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• fund: means a special account established within the Treasurer's Office in which is deposited all fees as authorized by this article to be collected for the department's environmental programs. See South Carolina Code 48-2-20
• General rate proceeding: means a proceeding under § 58-27-810 and other applicable provisions for the establishment of new electric rates and charges, and where orders in general rate proceedings are referenced in this article, these orders include rate orders issued in proceedings or combined proceedings under this article. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• imprudence: includes , but is not limited to, lack of caution, care, or diligence as determined by the commission in regard to any action or decision taken by the utility or one acting on its behalf including, but not limited to, its officers, board, agents, employees, contractors, subcontractors, consultants affecting the project, or any other person acting on behalf of or for the utility affecting the project. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• In-service expenses: means reasonably projected expenses recognized under generally accepted principles of regulatory and financial accounting as a result of a plant commencing commercial operation, including:
  
  (a) expenses associated with operating and maintaining a plant, as well as taxes and governmental charges applicable to the plant including taxes other than income taxes;
  
  (b) depreciation and amortization expenses related to the plant;
  
  (c) revenue requirements related to the utility's cost of capital applied to the investment in supplies, inventories, and working capital associated with the plant; and
  
  (d) other costs determined by the commission to be appropriate for ratemaking purposes. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• land: means any real estate or any estate or interest therein, including water and riparian rights, regardless of the use to which it is devoted. See South Carolina Code 58-33-20
• major utility facility: means :
  
  (a) electric generating plant and associated facilities designed for, or capable of, operation at a capacity of more than seventy-five megawatts. See South Carolina Code 58-33-20
• municipality: means any county or municipality within this State. See South Carolina Code 58-33-20
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: includes any individual, group, firm, partnership, corporation, cooperative, association, government subdivision, government agency, local government, municipality, any other organization, or any combination of any of the foregoing, and shall include the South Carolina Public Service Authority. See South Carolina Code 58-33-20
• Person: means an individual, corporation, association, nonprofit corporation, joint-stock company, firm, trust, partnership, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or other legal entity. See South Carolina Code 47-21-20
• Person: means any individual, group, firm, partnership, or corporation. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• plant: means a new coal or nuclear fueled electrical generating unit or units or facility that is designed to be operated at a capacity factor exceeding seventy percent annually, has a gross initial generation capacity of three hundred fifty megawatts or more, and is intended in whole or in part to serve retail customers of a utility in South Carolina, and for a coal plant, includes Best Available Control Technology, as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, for the control of air emissions. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Preconstruction costs: means all costs associated with a potential nuclear plant incurred before issuance of a final certificate under the Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection Act, including, without limitation, the costs of evaluation, design, engineering, environmental and geotechnical analysis and permitting, contracting, other required permitting including early site permitting and combined operating license permitting, and initial site preparation costs and related consulting and professional costs, and shall include AFUDC associated with those costs. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Proceeding: means the proceeding to consider an application filed under this chapter. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Project development application: means an application for a project development order. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Project development order: means an order establishing the prudence of a utility's decision to incur preconstruction costs associated with a nuclear plant or potential nuclear plant. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• prudency: means a high standard of caution, care, and diligence in regard to any action or decision taken by the utility or one acting on its behalf including, but not limited to, its officers, board, agents, employees, contractors, subcontractors, consultants affecting the project, or any other person acting on behalf of or for the utility affecting the project. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• regulatory staff: means the executive director or the executive director and the employees of the Office of Regulatory Staff. See South Carolina Code 58-33-20
• Return on equity: means the return on common equity established in the base load review order for a plant. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Revised rates: means a revised schedule of electric rates and charges reflecting a change to the utility's then current nonfuel rates and charges to add incremental revenue requirements related to a base load plant as authorized in this article. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Revised rates order: means an order issued by the commission approving, modifying, or denying the utility's request to charge revised rates under this article, which revised rates order an aggrieved party may contest in an adversarial hearing before the commission. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• utility: means any person engaged in the generating, distributing, sale, delivery, or furnishing of electricity for public use. See South Carolina Code 58-33-20
• Utility: means a person owning or operating equipment or facilities for generating, transmitting, or delivering electricity to South Carolina retail customers for compensation but it shall not include electric cooperatives, municipalities, the South Carolina Public Service Authority, or a person furnishing electricity only to himself, itself, its residents, employees, or tenants when the electricity is not resold or used by others. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection Act: means § 58-33-10 and other applicable provisions of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 58-33-220
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.