Jimmy Carter Fast forward through a stable and predictable era until 1978, when President Carter signed the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, or PURPA, which showed the way to our local (and Houston) hero Bob McNair.

PURPA allowed for cogeneration and encouraged entrepreneurs to generate power for less than a utility's avoided cost. In other words, if PURPA forced utilities to buy electric power from independent providers for a price less than the utilities' cost for the same electric power, and if the provider could both deliver the cheaper electricity and bring home a profit, an industry was born. USC graduate and philanthropist Bob McNair became a billionaire through the cogeneration business.

Ronald ReaganPresident Carter's PURPA was challenged, but PURPA was preserved in the US Supreme Court in May 1983.

Meanwhile, Thatcherism had taken over the UK's approach to industries and economics. Reaganomics had similar but less impressive impact in the US because Reagan Country was already prone to what Thatcher was preaching to her Brits. Both countries saw as inevitable the deregulation of the electric power business and other protected industries. After all, peanuts fares and early stages of deregulation of the airlines in the US kicked in about the same time as PURPA.

George H.W. Bush By President (#41) Bush's mid-term signature, a new energy bill freed up the wholesale side of the distribution of electricity, but not the retail side. Retail was left up to the states.

On a wholesale basis, if Duke of Charlotte wanted to sell power to Southern of Atlanta, SCANA could be positioned to allow the transmission through their lines in SC for a federal fixed-rate fee. SCANA has flourished in this environment.

Almost 15 years after the first President Bush's energy bill, the second President Bush's signature now means Duke or Southern can buy SCANA. Progress Energy of Raleigh can also be expected to look into acquiring SCANA.

George W. Bush If SCANA is taken over by an out-of-state concern, government regulation might shift from state to federal authority. Still, all the while Duke has operated in both North and South Carolina, each state's regulatory authority has held its statewide control.

SCANA, logically, is the takeover target because SCANA is the smallest of the fish among the four private utilities in the pond. Duke's assets come to more than $55 billion; Southern's, almost $37 billion; Progress Energy's, about $26 billion; and SCANA holds its own, mostly electricity customers in central SC and the Lowcountry, with almost $9 billion. With ratios of six-to-one, four-to-one, and three- to-one, SCANA's position as a stand-alone power company is precarious.

SCANA won't go cheap. For the last five years SCANA's stock had a total return of 81.1%, which compares favorably to the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 3.5% for the same period.

Like all regulated utilities, SCANA has a government-targeted return on common equity. In SCANA's case, its regulated return on common equity has hovered around 12% for the last ten years.

It's the job of the Public Service Commission to see to it SCANA meets its projected return. By law, government regulated utilities cannot lose money.