Santee Cooper spokeswoman Mollie Gore said allowing Mt. Holly to use a third-party provider would be both unfair and more expensive for other Santee Cooper customers.
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Century Aluminum of South Carolina, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX), today issued a notice to employees at its Mt. Holly, South Carolina aluminum smelter of its intent to curtail plant operations if the smelter is unable to secure a competitively priced power arrangement to deliver energy to the plant. Century and prior owner Alcoa have operated the Mt. Holly plant as a leading corporate citizen in Berkeley County.
State Representative Joe Danning confirms to News 2 that he was told last night that the company will send out a press release today, giving 60 days notice that they plan to shut the plant down.
County Supervisor Bill Peagler has also been trying to broker a deal, the county said in a statement, adding it’s hopeful they can find a common ground so that 600 people do not lose their jobs later this year.
According to an economic analysis by Dr. Joey Von Nessen of the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, Mt. Holly’s direct economic impact on the Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties is $945 million a year. “At the state level, every job created by Mt. Holly generates more than twice as many additional jobs for South Carolina as a job created in an average firm in South Carolina”.
Asked whether an agreement might be reached by December 31, Gore said “there is certainly always a chance”.
“This is obviously sad news for everyone”. Century operates four domestic aluminum plants as well as one in Iceland. They have provided jobs, civic leadership and significant community support to the Lowcountry. Aluminum smelting is energy-intensive, and many US smelters have closed or moved overseas.
“Santee Cooper has offered Century everything that we could fairly offer to help them keep the plant operating, but in the end Century’s leadership consistently required a deal that would unfairly increase costs to our other customers”, the utility said in a later statement.
“Time is running short and, without a prompt agreement with Santee to deliver the energy, the Mt. Holly plant will close”, Mr. Bless continued.
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According to a 2012 agreement, Santee Cooper provides a quarter of the electricity to the Goose Creek smelter, with a natural gas generator providing the rest.
