New power bills Officially predicted to go up 2.44% in May, the cost of residential electric power from SCE&G/SCANA should be reflected in next month's bills. Expect an increase of $2.80 for every 1,000 kilowatt hours. Commercial customers should see an average increase of 3%, and industrial customers, 5%. The increases are due mostly to gains in costs to deliver coal by rail to the power plants. SCE&G/SCANA sells electric power to about 650,000 customers in 26 counties in the state. What is not known, of course, is what would SCE&G/SCANA charge if the company had to compete with another supplier for the same 650,000 customers' business.

Even newer power bills An isolated competition example, not covered by any newspapers where Cayce- based SCE&G/SCANA advertises, is in the town of Orangeburg. The town buys its electric power in bulk and distributes the power among its citizens. Long a loyal customer at SCE&G/SCANA, something like since 1919, Orangeburg invited Duke to offer a competing bid. Duke came in $10 million less than SCE&G/SCANA for a 10- year period. The deal has been blocked by the N.C. Utilities Commission, their counterpart to S.C.'s Public Service Commission. Still, if the small town of Orangeburg and its 50,000 residents can save $10 million over a 10- year period, what would be the total savings among 650,000 customers over a ten- year period? More than $100 million dollars, probably. Only competition can tell, and competition is not allowed.

And peculiar power bills About 2 million people, directly or indirectly, get their electric power from Santee Cooper, the state's public electric power producer and distributor. Before the end of this year, Santee Cooper is expected to raise residential electric power rates by about 7.5%, and before the end of 2010, another 7.6% should kick in. That's almost another $15 per 1,000 residential kilowatt hours by the end of 2010. And above it all Mignon Clyburn, daughter of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D- S.C., the majority whip in Congress, has served on the S.C. Public Service Commission for the past 11 years, and the stability and continuity among the utilities show it. For her good work, Mignon Clyburn has been nominated by President Barack Obama to hold one of five positions on the Federal Communications Commission.

Movin' on up About 20 years ago, Jim Norton, the executive director of the Columbia Development Corporation, prematurely gave up getting Columbia's convention center built at the corner of Lincoln and Senate and took a similar job promoting downtown Tulsa, Okla. Tulsa has a population of just under 400,000, an impressive leap from Columbia's 100,000+. Now it's time for Norton's next phase in title and responsibility, having proved what he can do in both Columbia and Tulsa. He is the new executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership. The estimated population of Chapel Hill is hovering close to 55,000.

Aiken and Camden need to hear this In North Carolina, the Rural Economic Development Center is asking the state to consider opportunities to expand its $2 billion horse industry. Key opportunities include the appointment of an equine industry commission and legal wagering on horse racing. The total number of horses in North Carolina is 306,210, valued at $1.86 billion.

Georgia funded, for now Governor Sonny Perdue signed an $18.6 billion budget in the second week of May. State spending is reduced by $2.5 billion during the coming fiscal year. With Georgia's population at 9.7 million, that's $1,918 per person. South Carolina's proposed budget of $5.7 billion leaves its 4.5 million people with $1,267 per. If South Carolina spent the same per capita as Georgia, the South Carolina budget would come to $8.6 billion, almost $3 billion more than the $5.7 billion Sanford hates to sign. Good company Columbia's Cheryl Holland, head of Abacus Planning Group on Devine Street, an office of financial advisors, attended the first- annual "Top Independent Advisors Summit" put on by Barron's Magazine. The big to- do was at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. (Think Frank Lloyd Wright.) Previously profiled in the

Business Section of The Columbia Star,

Holland is the chair of the investment committee handling the endowment funds at Bryn Mawr College, her alma mater.