Richest Man Slim Cited for Profiting From Phones for Poor - Bloomberg

By Todd Shields - Apr 25, 2013 12:00 AM ET

Slim’s TracFone Wireless Inc. received about a quarter of the funds from the U.S. government’sLifeline program, according to the latest figures. Today, a House subcommittee convenes ahearing to ask why the program, paid for by fees charged to U.S. phone subscribers, tripled in cost since 2008.

SCE&G nuke plant faces federal scrutiny

sfretwell@thestate.com (SAMMY FRETWELL)
Published: Apr 22, 2013, 6:47 PM
NRC inspectors discovered the flaws in February and required SCE&G to address the agency’s concerns before utility contractors poured the foundation, said Scott Freeman, chief of the agency’s nuclear construction branch in Atlanta.

Natural Gas Use in Long-Haul Trucks Expected to Rise - NYTimes.com

By DIANE CARDWELL and CLIFFORD KRAUSS  Published: April 22, 2013

And in the latest sign of how the momentum for natural gas in transportation is accelerating, United Parcel Service plans to announce in the next few days that it will expand its fleet of heavy 18-wheel vehicles running on liquefied natural gas, or L.N.G., to 800 by the end of 2014, from 112. The vehicles will use the new Cummins engines, produced under a joint venture with Westport Innovations.

Google pushes new plan for utility-supplied renewable energy

By Tina Casey on 21 April 2013

Nevertheless, Google seems pretty confident that other factors would offset any cost differential. Namely, Google foresees that companies would be willing to pay a little more in order to achieve a more diverse energy supply that provides far more long term stability than the fossil fuel market, which is characterized by periodic price spikes and is vulnerable to geopolitical factors that can (and do) lead to supply disruptions.

Rural electric co-ops go green - Christian Science Monitor

By Brooke Jarvis, YES! Magazine / April 15, 2013

Co-ops find many reasons to pursue energy efficiency—as in South Carolina, where the energy demands of a quickly growing population threatened to overload the grid. Reluctant to take on the cost of building new nuclear or natural gas plants, a group of cooperatives created an on-bill financing pilot program similar to How$martKY. Since South Carolina has the nation’s highest percentage of manufactured homes (which, on average, use far more energy per square foot than traditional homes), efficiency is an easy target. Eventually, the co-ops hope to retrofit more than 200,000 homes, saving customers $280 million a year.

PSC Will Hold Special Meeting April 16, 2013 at 4pm re Dual Party Relay Fund

Blue Ridge Doesn't Expect Rate Increase - Easley, SC Patch

By Jason Evans
He said cooperative officials are not sure that sales will ever recover proportionally to the level they were prior to 2007 and 2008.
“We're preparing, going forward, to not see that kind of revenue going forward,” Dalton said.
But Dalton emphasized that the cooperative plans to finish 2013 without a rate increase. The last time the cooperative adjusted the energy component of its rate was November 2008.
“We don't forsee a rate increase the rest of this year, and if there is one at all in 2014, we think it will be small, 3 or 4 percent,” Dalton said.